Nairobi, Kenya — The Central Bank of Kenya has projected Kenya’s economy to grow at a sustained rate of 5.9 percent, a slight downgrade from its previous 6 percent estimate.

CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge, during the post-Monetary Policy Meeting (MPC) briefing, noted that Agriculture and services sector will be key growth drivers and are expected to expand by 6.4 and 6.3 percent respectively.

“The economy is expected to remain strong in 2022, supported by the continued strong performance of the services sector, recovery in agriculture, and an improvement in global demand,” the regulator said

Accommodation and restaurant, ICT, and retail sectors are expected to drive growth in the services sectors while the industry and non-agriculture sectors are projected to grow at 5 and 5.9 percent each.

While he acknowledged the contraction of the agriculture sector in 2021 was due to unfavorable weather conditions, he partly linked the low figure to data discrepancies.

“While the low figure could be due to less favorable rainfall, it could also be due to data issues, we are working with partners and we would not be surprised if the figure is revised upwards,” he said.

The 2021 GDP growth was also revised from 6.1 to 8 percent.

“Leading indicators confirm that the Kenyan economy rebounded strongly in 2021, following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the impact of government interventions,” CBK said.

Kenya’s GDP grew by 9.9 percent in the third quarter of 2021 compared to a contraction of 2.1 percent in the third quarter of 2020 while the Q2 2021 GDP growth was reported at 10.1pc

The improved growth was attributed to the recovery of the services sector particularly transport and storage, education, information and communication, wholesale and retail trade, and the improved performance of the manufacturing and construction sectors.

Source: Capital FM