Overview: A serious underlying economic problem is Kenya's 3.6% annual population growth rate--one of the highest in the world. In the meantime, GDP growth in the near term has kept slightly ahead of population--annually averaging 4.9% in the 1986-90 period. Undependable weather conditions and a shortage of arable land hamper long-term growth in agriculture, the leading economic sector.

GDP: $8.5 billion, per capita $360; real growth rate 4% (1990 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10.9% (1990 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%, but there is a high level of unemployment and underemployment

Budget: revenues $2.0 billion; expenditures $2.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA billion (FY89)

Exports: $1.1 billion (f.o.b., 1990 est.); commodities--tea 25%, coffee 21%, petroleum products 7% (1989); partners--EC 44%, Africa 25%, Asia 5%, US 5%, Middle East 4% (1988)

Imports: $2.4 billion (c.i.f., 1990 est.); commodities--machinery and transportation equipment 29%, petroleum and petroleum products 15%, iron and steel 7%, raw materials, food and consumer goods (1989 est.); partners--EC 45%, Asia 11%, Middle East 12%, US 5% (1988)

External debt: $5.8 billion (December 1990 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 5.4% (1989 est.); accounts for 17% of GDP

Electricity: 730,000 kW capacity; 2,700 million kWh produced, 110 kWh per capita (1990)

Industries: small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural processing, oil refining, cement, tourism

Agriculture: most important sector, accounting for 29% of GDP, about 80% of the work force, and over 50% of exports; cash crops--coffee, tea, sisal, pineapple; food products--corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables, dairy products; food output not keeping pace with population growth

Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis used mostly for domestic consumption; widespread cultivation of cannabis and qat on small plots; transit country for heroin and methaqualone en route from Southwest Asia to West Africa, Western Europe, and the US

Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $839 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $6.7 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $74 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $83 million

Currency: Kenyan shilling (plural--shillings); 1 Kenyan shilling (KSh) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Kenyan shillings (KSh) per US$1--24.427 (January 1991), 22.915 (1990), 20.572 (1989), 17.747 (1988), 16.454 (1987), 16.226 (1986), 16.432 (1985)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June

NOTE: The information regarding Kenya on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Kenya Economy 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Kenya Economy 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.