After Rebasing, Kenya Becomes Africa's 9Th Largest Economy

A novel method of calculating Kenya's economic performance has made the country Africa's ninth largest economy and a middle-income nation.



"Rebasing Kenya's gross domestic product (GDP) gives hope that the policies put in place to realize vision 2030 have kept us on course," Ann Waiguru, cabinet secretary for devolution and planning, told a Tuesday news conference in Nairobi.



"It tells us the economy is worth more than we thought," she said.



The government recently rebased its GDP to take into account new sectors not included in previous calculations – notably, the country's burgeoning real estate and communication sectors.



"The rebased GDP estimates put Kenya among the lower middle-income nations in the world and [make it] the ninth largest economy in Africa," Waiguru asserted.



According to the rebased figures, Kenya's economy has grown by 25 percent and is currently valued at 4.7 trillion Kenyan shillings – up from 3.8 billion shillings in 2013.



The new GDP per capita now stands at $1,246, up from an earlier $964.



This is higher than the $1,036 benchmark set by the World Bank to define middle-income countries.



"We expect that rebasing GDP will provide us with the information necessary for evidence-based formulation, monitoring and evaluation," said Waiguru.



Kenya had hoped to attain middle-income status by 2017, in line with an ambitious government plan dubbed "Vision 2030," which aims to make the East African country a developed nation within the next 15 years.



Kenya has long been East Africa's largest economy, relying on agricultural exports and tourism as its major foreign currency earners.



-Unimpressed-



The government says it may take time before the impact of the rebasing is felt by ordinary Kenyans.



"Rebasing the GDP doesn't mean Kenyans will be better off, nor does it imply that the existing social economic challenges have ceased to exist," admitted Waiguru.



"Kenyans will be just as poor or as wealthy as they were a year ago," she added.



That's why Mary Akinyi, a 49-year-old housewife and mother of six living in Nairobi's Kibera slums, Kenya's largest informal settlement, was left cold by the announcement.



"My husband works as a casual laborer. He earns about 200 shillings [nearly $2] if he is lucky to get work that day," she told Anadolu Agency.



"I have three children in secondary school, one in college, and two unemployed," Akinyi added.



She said life had recently been "a struggle for us," citing skyrocketing food prices and medical expenses.



"I don't expect that the government's announcement today [about the rebased GP] will bring any difference to my family and other Kibera residents," she asserted.



A survey conducted earlier this month by Ipsos Ltd., a Kenyan think tank, showed that 93 percent of Kenyans currently earn less than 40,000 shillings a month, while 43 percent earn less than 10,000 shillings a month.



By Yassin Juma



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Nayrobi