Author: David Indeje

Kenyan borrowers got a reprieve after the Central Bank of Kenya reduced the benchmark lending rate to 9.5 per cent.This means borrows will now pay interest rates of 13.5 per cent instead of 14 per cent and lowers the minimum deposit rate to 6.65 per cent (70% of CBR).The Monetary Policy Committee: “Concluded that there was scope for easing its monetary policy stance in order to support economic activity. Consequently, while noting the risk of perverse outcomes, the Committee decided to reduce the Central Bank Rate (CBR) to 9.50 percent from 10.00 percent.”Besides the stable condition of inflation, foreign exchange market, supported by…

Retail businesses, finance, banking, and investment have been revealed as the most profitable sectors for generating wealth in Kenya,  according to data provided by Wealth-X for the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2018. The 12th edition of The Wealth Report percentages revealed that the retail businesses (18%); finance, banking and investment (18%); industrial businesses (8%); and manufacturing (6%).  The majority of Kenya’s affluent are self-made (56%), 5% have inherited, while 39% have made wealth both from inheritance and their own enterprises. Further, it highlighted that Kenya’s high net worth investors with KSh 500 million in assets increased by 16 percent in 2017…

The informal sector acts as an important shock pillar for Kenya’s economy gripped by a fairly lengthy period of sluggish jobs and income growth. It employs a significant amount of the people who are supporting the majority of the households in the country their purchasing activities of the various household consumables and capital goods significantly contribute to the Value-Added Tax. The sector contributes in excess of 35 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product and employs close to 80 per cent of the workforce. It includes home businesses, domestic workers, street vendors, small-scale artisans, car repairs, bakeries, and livestock traders…

The youth in Kenya are defined as those between the ages of 18 to 35 years.   “Kenya is a very youthful country. The median age is estimated at 19 years, and about 80 percent of Kenya’s population is below 35 years,” according to the 2016 Kenya Youth Survey Report by the Aga Khan University survey that sought to understand the values, attitudes, concerns, and aspirations of this critical segment of the population.     August 2017, the Business Daily wrote that Kenya’s ratio of youth (aged 15-24) to the population stands at 20.3 per cent, above the world’s average of 15.8…

A centralised information database will enhance efficiency in planning, capacity building and providing support for Kenya’s Small Medium Enterprises. “We need to have databases of the SMEs, their products. A centralized database will help give lenders information on prospective clients. SMEs must also be empowered in terms of capacity building,” said Ms. Ibukunoluwa Odegbaike the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank, East Africa. Ibukun Odegbaike said there are a lot of opportunities for regional trade between Kenya and the East African Community member states and also within the wider international trade arena. For this to be achieved, she urged the…

In the past 10 years, China has gone from having a small presence in Kenya to become one of its most important trading and investment partners.  Thanks to shipments of rolling stock and other equipment, Kenya’s imports from China ballooned to nearly US$3.4 billion in 2016 — an almost threefold increase from 2010 — against US$478 million from the US.  This figure is set to increase further with the construction of China’s BRI projects, which include the Standard Gauge Railway and the Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor, both of which are largely Chinese funded. “As a regional…