Kenya Quarterly Gross Domestic Product First Quarter 2017

Provisional quarterly GDP estimates for the first quarter of 2017 show that Kenya’s economy expanded by 4.7 per cent measured against a similar period in 2016. The slowdown in growth was largely due to a contraction in the activities of agriculture as well as a deceleration in growth of financial intermediation and electricity supply. The quarter’s growth was negatively impacted on by drought that emanated from failure of the 2016 short rains and delay in the onset of the 2017 long rains. A slowdown in credit uptake also slowed economic growth during the period under review. There was a moderate buildup in inflationary pressures mainly due to significant increases in prices of food and beverages during the period under review. In addition, a 62.2 per cent increase in the international oil prices during the quarter compared to the same quarter of 2016 led a notable rise in transport Consumer Price Index (CPI) component in the months of February and March. Consequently, inflation averaged at 8.8 per cent thereby overshooting the Central Bank’s upper limit of 7.5 per cent.