This archive report was first published on 30 June 2020.
Published on June 30, 2020, a new survey by TIFA research has shed light on the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Kenyan households.
According to the survey, 69% of respondents reported a reduction in income, while 43% have lost their income completely. The research, conducted from a sample size of 579 respondents, found that 61% of those who reported reduced earnings due to the pandemic have slashed their expenditure on food and drinks.
The respondents also reported a sharp decrease in spending on rent, clothing, entertainment, and transportation. A staggering 42% expressed fears that hunger is the expected future challenge if the crisis persists.
“Among all respondents, more than four-fifths say that the Covid-19 crisis has had a great impact on their daily lives. This is true across all employment-status categories, except for those now jobless and who never been employed, of whom three-fourths expressed this view, nevertheless,” said Tom Wolf, Research Analyst at TIFA.
The survey also found that almost all respondents (96%) who had been earning prior to the health crisis reported that they are now earning either “very little” or “nothing” of what they had been getting before March when the outbreak was reported in Kenya.
Kenya had recorded 6,190 positive cases by June 29, with the peak projected at August or September. The dusk-to-dawn curfew and inter-county restriction of movement in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Mandera have been cited as contributing factors to the deteriorating economic situation.
