Kenya’s economic growth rate dipped to a two-year low in the second quarter of 2024.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said the country’s GDP expanded by 4.6%, down from 5.6% in the same period of the previous year.
“The growth, albeit slower than the corresponding quarter of 2023, was to a considerable extent supported by Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing (4.8%), Real Estate (6.0%), Financial & Insurance Activities (5.1%), and Wholesale & Retail (4.4%),” said the statistics body.
“However, the growth was somewhat hampered by contractions in the Mining & Quarrying and Construction sectors during the quarter under review.”
During the period, the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing sector grew by 4.8%, driven by increased production of sugarcane, milk, and fruit exports.
The manufacturing sector’s real GDP growth accelerated to 3.2%, supported by the food manufacturing sub-sector. The growth was supported by significant increases in the production of food, including soft drinks, sugar and milk, however slowed down by a 0.6% decline in Tea production.
The construction sector contracted by 2.9%, hampered by declines in cement production and motor vehicle assembly. For instance, during the second quarter of 2024, cement consumption declined by 7.8 per cent to stand at 2,053.9 thousand metric tonnes from 2,227.6 thousand metric tonnes in the corresponding period of 2023.
Electricity and Water Supply sector’s growth slowed to 1.0%, with a decline in total electricity generation. The slowed growth was due to a decline in total electricity generation, which decreased to 3,041.5 million kWh in the second quarter of 2024 from 3,088.6 kWh in the corresponding quarter of 2023. Generation of electricity from geothermal declined by 14.2 per cent to stand at 1,279.3 million KWh in the quarter under review. Similarly, the generation of electricity from wind and solar electricity decreased by 33.9 and 5.0 per cent to 334.8 million kWh and 114.4 million KWh, respectively, in the second quarter of 2024.
The Transportation and Storage growth in this sector decelerated to 3.6%, impacted by reduced demand for passenger and freight transport.
Accommodation and Food Service sector grew by 26.6%, boosted by increased visitor arrivals and conferences.
The Financial and Insurance Activities sector slowed to 5.1%, influenced by rising interest rates and credit costs.
