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Kenya’s intra-Africa trade has increased appreciably in recent times and it is at a record high in the first three months of the year. The export grew fastest in the last three months if one compares the figure in the last 12 years. During the period under review, the imports have come down signalling the first fall in the last three years
Kenya’s intra-Africa trade has increased appreciably in recent times and it is at a record high in the first three months of the year. The export grew fastest in the last three months if one compares the figure in the last 12 years. During the period under review, the imports have come down signalling the first fall in the last three years.
Traders sold goods worth Sh98.85 billion to African countries in the January-March 2023 period as against an import bill of Sh61.72 billion, according to the Central Bank of Kenya, leading to a trade surplus of Sh37.14 billion, registering an increase of 156.45 percent for the period under review. The widening gap in exports and imports was largely due to increased goods trade with Uganda, while trade with Tanzania dropped.
A faster growth in exports to the continent than imports provide job opportunities for locals and eases pressure on the shilling. Till recently, Kenya with its resilient economic growth, has been a poster boy of the West and multilateral lenders like the IMF and the World Bank. The covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war have had their impact on the East African country.
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President William Ruto has taken a leading role in championing the removal of trade barriers among African countries to ease the movement of goods, services, and labor through the integration of regional trading blocs. He has been a votary of the ambitious African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which is aimed at creating the world’s largest single market of about 1.4 billion people with an estimated economic output of more than US$3 trillion (Sh415.2 trillion).
