Kenya’s 10-month trade deficit drops by Sh20 billion

Port of Mombasa. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By TIMOTHY ODINGA
More by this Author

Summary

• Kenya’s 10-month trade deficit narrowed by two percent to Sh941 billion compared to Sh960 billion reported a year ago, official data show.
• The country’s expenditure on imports dropped by Sh39 billion to Sh1.44 trillion compared to Sh1.48 trillion spent in the same period a year ago, data released by the Central bank of Kenya show.
• Receipts from exports also dropped by Sh20 billion to Sh500 billion from Sh520 billion earned in the period to October last year.

Kenya’s 10-month trade deficit narrowed by two percent to Sh941 billion compared to Sh960 billion reported a year ago, official data show.

The country’s expenditure on imports dropped by Sh39 billion to Sh1.44 trillion compared to Sh1.48 trillion spent in the same period a year ago, data released by the Central bank of Kenya show.

Receipts from exports also dropped by Sh20 billion to Sh500 billion from Sh520 billion earned in the period to October last year.

Earnings from horticulture hit a record high of Sh93.8 billion surpassing tea for the first time. Tea, which has been the main export earner, brought in Sh93.4 billion over the period. The beverage’s receipts dropped to a five-year low blamed mainly on excess global supplies and weak demand.

The reduction in tea earnings has been attributed to the decline in international prices during the review period due to a glut in the global market and an increase in the cost of production.

The lower prices, coupled with reduced production in the year to June following poor weather,

“This performance has been realised at a time when most of the tea-producing countries have registered increased production,” said Kenya Tea Development Agency Managing Director Lerionka Tiampati in October.

Kenya is the leading exporter of black tea in the world and the crop is also one of its top foreign exchange-earners, along with tourism, flower exports and cash sent home by the diaspora.

Uganda’s Sh53.03 billion spend on Kenya’s goods made it the biggest destination followed by the US at Sh43.9 billion and the Netherlands at Sh41 billion.

Pakistan, which was the leading destination of Kenyans goods last year, came in at fourth position bringing in Sh37 billion which was 26 percent dip compared to Sh50 billion earned over a similar period in 2018.

For every Sh10 spent on imports, Sh2.5 was spent on importation of machinery and transportation goods, which in total consumed Sh376 billion in the period. Mineral fuels and lubricants came in second at Sh282 billion.