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potential the environment is for an
entrepreneurial
ideology.
“Maintaining a stable growth rate is
encouraging as Kenyans celebrate
their
50th
independence
anniversary,” said Diarietou Gaye,
World Bank Country Director for
Kenya. “One key message of this
report is that Kenya has many
achievements worth
celebrating
but there is ample room for
improving the policy environment to
amplify these achievements and
ultimately, to end extreme poverty
and boost shared prosperity in
Kenya.”
According with KNBS provisional
estimates of Gross
Domestic
Product (GDP) show that the
country's
economy maintained a
moderate growth of 4.4 per cent in
the third quarter of 2013 compared
to 4.5 percent recorded during a
similar quarter of 2012. The growth
was mainly supported by improved
performances
in
financial
intermediation,
transport
and
communication, wholesale and retail
trade, manufacturing, construction
and mining and quarrying activities.
But still there was a slowdown in the
growth of agriculture and forestry
sector which impacted negatively on
the
economic
performance.
Activities of the hotels and
restaurants rebounded though the
growth
remained
relatively
suppressed.
We witness that there was some
seasonally adjusted growth, with a
track of perspicuity performance on
consecutive, quarters indicating that
the third quarter 2013 grew by 1.6
per cent compared to a growth of
0.8 per cent in second quarter 2013.
Money market was not left behind,
despite of the mixed performance
of Kenya Shilling during the same
period. The Shilling remained stable
against the other East African
currencies, strengthened against
the South African Rand but it was
weakened against the US dollar and
Sterling pound during recorded
period.
Activities of the capital market
increased significantly with the
value of transactions at the Nairobi
Security Exchange almost doubling
from Ksh 21,500 million over the
third quarter of 2012 to Ksh 42,064
million during the review period.
Measured against the third quarter
of 2012, value of total exports
decreased by 3.9 per cent in the
same quarter of 2013. In contrast,
the value of total imports rose by
2.7 per cent over the same period
resulting to widening of the current
account deficit. These
growth
momentum
is
expected
to
be sustained into 2014, with the
growth rate projected to improve
modestly to 5.1%, according to the
Kenya Economic Update for
December 2013, the ninth in a series
published by the World Bank half
yearly.
Do business report of 2014 Kenya
score of 4 on the depth of credit
information index and a score of 10
on the strength of legal rights index.
Higher scores indicate more credit
information and stronger legal rights
for borrowers and lenders.
Globally, Kenya stands at 13 in the
ranking of 189 countries on the ease
of getting credit. The rankings for
comparator economies and the
regional average ranking provide
other useful information for
assessing how well regulations and
institutions in Kenya support lending
and
borrowing.
This
strong
macroeconomic foundation and
structural reforms are what makes
some of the key drivers of
performance.
These will be advantageous to
entrepreneurs, traders and investors
of Nairobi resident and its because
of Kenya business hub and it’s
potential currency union to East
Africa
Community , so any
protocol for East Africa Monetary
Union; if realized and reduce
transaction cost for regional trade,
facilitate aid and lending to these
countries and drive joint projects
and the exploration and extraction
of natural resources. Infrastructure
and the currency union will enhance
Kenya’s position as East Africa’s
gateway to the rest of world .
By Bruce Amoke
[email protected]
Nairobi Backer Advertisement Magazine