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| 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. Since then, however, the KIBAKI government has been rocked by high-level graft scandals. The World Bank suspended aid for most of 2006, and the IMF has delayed loans pending further action by the government on corruption. The scandals have not seemed to affect growth, with GDP growing more than 5% in 2006. | | | GDP | 2.8% (2006) | | | GDP - real growth rate | 5.7% (2006 est.) | | | GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 16.3%
industry: 18.8%
services: 65% (2004 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) | | | Labor force | 1.955 million (2006 est.) | | | Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 75%
industry and services: 25% (2003 est.) | | | Unemployment rate | 40% (2001 est.) | | | Budget | revenues: $4.448 billion
expenditures: $5.377 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.) | | | Industries | small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, clothing, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural products, horticulture, oil refining; aluminum, steel, lead; cement, commercial ship repair, tourism | | | Industrial production growth rate | 6.3% (2006 est.) | | Electricity -
production | 5.709 billion kWh (2004) | | Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 17.7%
hydro: 71%
nuclear: 0%
other: 11.3% (2001) | | Electricity -
consumption | 5.459 billion kWh (2004) | | Electricity -
exports | 0 kWh (2004) | | Electricity -
imports | 150 million kWh (2004) | | | Oil - production | 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) | | | Oil - consumption | 55,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) | | | Oil - exports | NA bbl/day | | | Oil - imports | NA bbl/day | | | Agriculture - products | tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs | | | Exports | $3.614 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) | | | Exports - commodities | tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement | | | Exports - partners | Uganda 15.1%, UK 10.4%, US 9.4%, Netherlands 8.1%, Tanzania 7.3%, Pakistan 4.6% (2005) | | | Imports | $6.602 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) | | | Imports - commodities | machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics | | | Imports - partners | UAE 11.4%, US 10.2%, India 8.6%, Saudi Arabia 8%, South Africa 7.4%, China 7.4%, UK 5.6%, Japan 4.1% (2005) | | | Debt - external | $6.675 billion (2006 est.) | | | Economic aid - recipient | $453 million (1997) | | | Currency code | KES | | | Exchange rates | Kenyan shillings per US dollar - 72.101 (2006), 75.554 (2005), 79.174 (2004), 75.936 (2003), 78.749 (2002) | | | Fiscal year | 1 July - 30 June | |
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