Kenya’s economy fared below expectations in the fourth quarter as tighter financial conditions and spending cuts by the government weighed on manufacturing and consumption.
(Bloomberg) — Kenya’s economy fared below expectations in the fourth quarter as tighter financial conditions and spending cuts by the government weighed on manufacturing and consumption.
Gross domestic product expanded 3.8% in the three months through December from a year earlier, compared with downwardly revised growth of 4.3% in the previous quarter, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in a presentation on Wednesday. That was below the median of six economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey for growth of 4%.
Economic growth declined to 4.8% for all of 2022, from a revised 7.6% a year earlier, according to the statistics agency. That undershot the National Treasury’s estimate of 5.5% estimate and the International Monetary Fund’s forecast of 5.4%.
The economy slowed in the fourth quarter as agriculture contracted 0.9%. Manufacturing grew by 1.8%, compared with 6.2% a year earlier, while wholesale and retail trade expanded 2.7%, compared with 6.7% a year ago.
Farming is Kenya’s mainstay, which makes up nearly a quarter of total output and employs more than 70% of people in rural areas. Agricultural output contracted in 2022 for a second consecutive year as annual average rainfall almost halved.
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