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Saturday, September 5, 2020
Kenya ranks low in manufacturing
By Peter Theuri
Kenya has been placed in position 115 out of 152 in the Competitive Industrial Performance Index for 2020.
The research by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
benchmarks countries’ ability to produce and export manufactured goods
competitively.
Although Kenya ranked higher than regional peers, (Tanzania 123, Uganda
128, Ethiopia 134 and Rwanda 142), Industrialisation Principal Secretary
Francis Owino said it showed Kenya still had some way to go in
manufacturing.
He highlighted the need to improve the local industry’s overall performance to boost trade and investment.
The research, prepared by Valentin Todorov, Senior Management
Information Officer at the Statistics Division of the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), benchmarks the ability of
countries to produce and export manufactured goods competitively.
It provides a graphical summary capturing the competitive performance of
each of the 152 countries and economies included in the 2020 CIP Index,
relative to their performance in previous years and compared to that of
the rest of the world.
The report shows that Kenya’s manufacturing sector export structure is
dependent on resource-based manufacturers (at 42.9 per cent) with high
tech manufactures only accounting to 5.5 per cent.
In contrast, top ranked Germany’s resource-based manufacturers take up
12.2 per cent, with medium tech manufacturers (52.7 per cent) and high
tech manufacturers (21.2 per cent) contributing the bulk of their
produce.
China, which is ranked second in the CIP Index report, is very strong in
manufacturing due to the use of high technology which is applied by
30.6 per cent of its manufacturers whereas only 9.3 per cent are
resource-based manufacturers.
Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) Chairman, Mucai Kunyiha,
highlighted that Kenya’s competitive performance e needs to be improved
to spur productivity, growth and development. He further noted that
although Kenya continues to progress in the Ease of doing Business
Index, there is need to look into its ability to sustainably produce
goods and services.
“Ease of Doing Business is a ‘necessary but not sufficient’ condition to
improve growth and prosperity. We must also look at our ability to
produce goods for which there is a market at a price and quality that
their market is willing to pay for. Whilst Kenya ranks top position
within EAC countries in this CIP Index, a lot still needs to be done in
order to be competitive at a global scale.”
Kawira Bucyana, United Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO) represent ative to Kenya, said that UNIDO would be helping Kenya
gain a competitive advantage.
“We reaffirm that we will continue to support all stakeholders to
improve Kenyans industrial performance and hope to see improvement of
Kenya’s ranking in the next 2 years.”
The Competitive Industrial Performance (CIP) Index - Kenya Report is a UNIDO publication was launched in partnership with KAM.
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