Economy Kenya
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. GDP grew more
than 5% in 2005.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$37.89 billion (2005 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$16.11 billion (2005 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
5.8% (2005 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$1,100 (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 16.3% industry: 18.8% services: 65.1% (2004 est.)
Labor force: 11.85 million (2005 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 75% industry and services: 25% (2003 est.)
Unemployment rate:
40% (2001 est.)