Kenya Economy - 2006

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 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. GDP grew more than 5% in 2005.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$39.6 billion (2005 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$16.25 billion (2005 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
5.2% (2005 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$1,200 (2005 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 16.3%
industry: 18.8%
services: 65.1% (2004 est.)

Labor force:
11.85 million (2005 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 75%
industry and services: 25% (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:
44.5 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
12% (2005 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
17.2% of GDP (2005 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $3.715 billion
expenditures: $3.88 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.)

Public debt:
67.4% of GDP (2005 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:
4.6% (2005 est.)

Electricity - production:
4.342 billion kWh (2003)

Electricity - consumption:
4.238 billion kWh (2003)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2003)

Electricity - imports:
200 million kWh (2003)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - consumption:
52,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA bbl/day

Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day

Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2003 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
0 cu m (2003 est.)

Current account balance:
-$694 million (2005 est.)

Exports:
$3.173 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

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

Exports - partners:
Uganda 13.2%, UK 11.3%, US 10.5%, Netherlands 8.1%, Egypt 4.8%, Tanzania 4.4%, Pakistan 4.3% (2004)

Imports:
$5.126 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

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

Imports - partners:
UAE 12.5%, Saudi Arabia 9.1%, South Africa 8.7%, US 7.7%, India 7.2%, UK 6.7%, China 6.4%, Japan 5% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$1.67 billion (2005 est.)

Debt - external:
$7.349 billion (2005 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$453 million (1997)

Currency (code):
Kenyan shilling (KES)

Exchange rates:
Kenyan shillings per US dollar - 75.554 (2005), 79.174 (2004), 75.936 (2003), 78.749 (2002), 78.563 (2001)