This archive report was first published on 6 May 2020.
Kenya's 2019 Economic Performance: Key Figures ¶
According to the World Bank's Kenya Economic Update, Kenya's economy experienced growth in various sectors in 2019. The total length of roads paved increased by 14.2 per cent to 21,295.1 kilometres in 2019.
Transportation and Storage sector expanded by 7.8 per cent in 2019, compared to 8.5 per cent growth in 2018. This growth was driven by low international oil prices and the continued expansion of roads, railway lines, and ports.
At the Mombasa Port, total cargo throughput and the number of ships docking increased by 11.3 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively, in 2019.
Kenya's air transport sector also experienced growth, with total passenger traffic increasing from 11.7 million in 2018 to 12.1 million in 2019.
Additionally, the volume of pipeline throughput increased by 11.1 per cent in 2019, mainly attributed to the completion of the new Nairobi-Mombasa 20-inch multi-product pipeline.
On the other hand, the Information and Communication sector's growth slowed to 8.8 per cent in 2019 from 11.3 per cent in 2018. The growth was anchored on the rapid expansion of the telecommunication sub-sector through the introduction of new products and leveraging on economies of scale associated with high levels of mobile cellular penetration.
Mobile penetration also increased, with the total number of mobile subscriptions rising to 54.6 million subscribers in 2019. The number of domestic call minutes increased from 55.9 billion minutes in 2018 to 58.7 billion minutes in 2019.
Mobile money transfer increased by 9.1 per cent to KSh 4,346.0 billion in 2019 from KSh 3,984.0 billion in 2018. The sector's performance was also enhanced by increased access to internet services in 2019.
Financial and Insurance sector grew by 6.6 per cent in 2019 compared to 5.3 per cent growth in 2018. Domestic credit grew by 7.5 per cent in 2019 compared to a growth of 6.4 per cent in 2018.
Lastly, tourism earnings grew by 3.9 per cent from KSh 157.4 billion in 2018 to KSh 163.6 billion in 2019.
Published on May 6, 2020
