Kenya Economy - 2005

Economy - overview:
The regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya has been hampered by corruption and by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low. In 1997, the IMF suspended Kenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program due to the government's failure to maintain reforms and curb corruption. A severe drought from 1999 to 2000 compounded Kenya's problems, causing water and energy rationing and reducing agricultural output. As a result, GDP contracted by 0.2% in 2000. The IMF, which had resumed loans in 2000 to help Kenya through the drought, again halted lending in 2001 when the government failed to institute several anticorruption measures. Despite the return of strong rains in 2001, weak commodity prices, endemic corruption, and low investment limited Kenya's economic growth to 1.2%. Growth lagged at 1.1% in 2002 because of erratic rains, low investor confidence, meager donor support, and political infighting up to the elections. In the key 27 December 2002 elections, Daniel Arap MOI's 24-year-old reign ended, and a new opposition government took on the formidable economic problems facing the nation. In 2003, progress was made in rooting out corruption and encouraging donor support, with GDP growth edging up to 1.7%. GDP grew a moderate 2.2% in 2004.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $34.68 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
2.2% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,100 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 19.3%
industry: 18.5%
services: 62.4% (2004 est.)

Labor force:
11.4 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 75% (2003 est.)

Unemployment rate:
40% (2001 est.)

Population below poverty line:
50% (2000 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 37.2% (2000)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
44.9 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
9% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
14.7% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $2.89 billion
expenditures: $3.443 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)

Public debt:
74.3% of GDP (2004 est.)

Agriculture - products:
tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs

Industries:
small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural products; oil refining, aluminum, steel, lead, cement; commercial ship repair, tourism

Industrial production growth rate:
2.6% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production:
4.475 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption:
4.337 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
175 million kWh (2002)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - consumption:
57,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Current account balance:
$-459.2 million (2004 est.)

Exports:
$2.589 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities:
tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement

Exports - partners:
Uganda 12.8%, UK 11.6%, US 10.4%, Netherlands 8.3%, Pakistan 5.1%, Egypt 4.7%, Tanzania 4.3% (2004)

Imports:
$4.19 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities:
machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics

Imports - partners:
UAE 13.2%, Saudi Arabia 9.6%, South Africa 9.3%, US 8%, UK 7.2%, China 6.7%, Japan 5.4%, India 4.9% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$1.5 billion (2004 est.)

Debt - external:
$6.792 billion (2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$453 million (1997)

Currency (code):
Kenyan shilling (KES)

Exchange rates:
Kenyan shillings per US dollar - 79.174 (2004), 75.936 (2003), 78.749 (2002), 78.563 (2001), 76.176 (2000)