.png)
Understanding Kenya
History & Economy - Part I
Author - GiaBlossom
The caveat is that Kenya's public debt as a percentage of national output is now 60% compared to around 40% in 2013. The key challenges that have been identified resulting the above are:
-
A large number of urban residents, especially those in informal settlements, without social services such as public health facilities; Kenya’s development partners have tended to assume that urban areas and residents were well-served by social services, and didn’t need special attention from the government and civil society organizations. As a result, in the 1980s and 1990s, poverty alleviation programs focused on rural areas.
-
Shortage of public schools (government-funded);
-
Widespread non-communicable diseases and their risk factors in urban informal settlements; For instance, about 80% of adults diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure were previously undiagnosed. As a result, for every 100 people diagnosed with either condition, only one had it under control.
-
A high number of unsafe abortions driven by high levels of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies; According to the World Health Organisation, 4.7% to 13.2% of maternal deaths annually can be attributed to unsafe abortion. An estimated half (49%) of all pregnancies were unintended and four in ten of these ended in an abortion, highlighting the need for increased access to contraception.
-
Uneven progress in sustainable development goals (SDGs) targets related to mothers, children and adolescents. In Kenya, childhood mortality has declined from 99 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 31 in 2020. Estimates from 2014 show significant regional differences, with the worst performing sub-region (coast) having more than double the rate of child deaths compared with the best performing one (central) – 87.4 against 42.1.
In 1963 Kenya finally gained its independence on December 12,and became a Republic with Kenyatta as its first President. The economy has been slowly boosting. The Kenyan shilling was first introduced in 1966 to replace the East African shilling. That currency had circulated in British-controlled areas of east Africa from the 1920s until the early 1960s when Kenya (and other African countries) gained independence from British rule.
According to the World Bank data the gross national income per capita (measured in U.S. dollars) in Kenya doubled between 2006 and 2016 and that the nation’s GDP (also measured in U.S. dollars) more than doubled, increasing from $25.8 billion to $70.5 billion over that same period. Although less volatile than other regional currencies, the exchange rate for the Kenyan shilling has generally weakened relative to the U.S. dollar over the past decade.
That yearly growth rate ranks Kenya as one of the fastest-growing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa and only reached 5.4% in 2019. According to Investopedia, the Kenyan Shilling has reached an all time high. As of Dec. 28, 2023, USD $1 is equal to roughly 157 KES. Kenya's GDP growth is due, in large part, to an increase in tourism and investment in the nation’s infrastructure.
According to the executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) The country’s population was 8.1 million in 1963; today it stands at about 55 million people. More people have moved into urban areas too. In 1960 about 7% of the population lived in urban areas; by 2021 it stood at 28%.
Kenya’s economy achieved broad-based growth averaging 4.8% per year between 2015-2019, significantly reducing poverty (from 36.5% in 2005 to 27.2% in 2019 ($2.15/day poverty line).
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shock hit the economy hard, disrupting international trade and transport, tourism, and urban services activity. Fortunately, the agricultural sector, a cornerstone of the economy, remained resilient.
Lately, the trade relations between China and Africa are at a turning point.as illustrated by the dramatic drop in Chinese loans being made to sub-Saharan countries. Beijing is pulling back, but Chinese companies are expected to continue forging ahead. The China-Africa relationship is "at a crossroads," according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a report published in October 2023. In 2022, according to Boston University's Global China Initiative, these did not even reach $1 billion (€920 million), for the first time in 18 years. Chinese loans now represent just a fraction of the amount given in 2016, the peak year, which was $28.4 billion (€26.98 billion at December 2016 prices). According to the latest news, the debt is being decreased with deals made with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other bilateral countries.
Leading tourist destinations in Africa, including South Africa, Kenya and Tunisia, are intensively marketing to Chinese tourists through advertising campaigns, roadshows and eased travel rules to attract more visitors from China In 2019, just before the pandemic, 155 million Chinese people vacationed abroad, spending on average almost twice as much during their stays as American tourists. According to the latest data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Africa recorded some 66.4 million international visitors in 2023, virtually on par with 2019. This recovery, however, is primarily driven by European travelers. Crime and stability on the continent is an added challenge to boost tourism.
The country has made significant political and economic reforms that have contributed to sustained economic growth, social development, and political stability gains over the past decade. However, its key development challenges still include poverty, inequality, youth unemployment, transparency and accountability, climate change, continued weak private sector investment, and the vulnerability of the economy to internal and external shocks.
References:
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/africa/kenya-s-population-5-key-findings-in-the-past-20-years-of-research-90196 This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-12-17-ruto-issues-clarity-on-state-of-kenyas-economic-status/