Kenya’s economy is projected to grow at a rate of 6 percent this year up from 5.8 percent in 2019, according to the latest World Bank economic global prospects report.
The report further projects that the global economy could recover to 2.5 percent Grose Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate in 2020, up slightly from 2.4 percent registered last year.
The report prospects for 2019 saw Kenya’s economic growth outlook edge down to 5.8% from 6.3% in 2018, slowdown that mirrored that of the Sub-Saharan Africa region which experienced a decline in its economic growth rate to 2.4% in 2019 from 2.6% in 2018.
The slowed growth was mainly attributed to decelerating activity in major trading partners, elevated policy uncertainty and falling commodity prices.
However, the latest figures indicate that 2020 is poised to be different.
Kenya’s economy is forecasted to grow at a rate of 6% while growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to firm at 2.9% in 2020 and to 3.2% in 2021-2022.
For this to happen, the World Bank says there will be a need for improved investor confidence in the region’s large economies as well as continued robust growth among exporters of agricultural commodities.
Last year saw Kenya perform dismally due to erratic weather conditions. Kenya is one of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that exports agricultural commodities,.
At the global level, the latest World Bank report paints a picture of a slowing global economy that is still beset by risks such as the destabilizing effect of the trade tension between the U.S and China.
The multilateral development lender forecasts the global economy growing by 2.4 percent this year, just one tenth more than 2019 but slower than the 2020 forecast released in June.
It also highlights that most major economies are poised to see sluggish growth in 2020.
The U.S economy is projected to grow just 1.8 percent after 2.3 percent growth in 2019, while China’s GDP will expand by less than 6 percent for the first time since 1990, with an expected 5.9 percent growth rate.
The world’s biggest economies U.S and China both account for nearly 40 percent of global GDP and nearly a quarter of global trade.
But with an improvement in their nearly two-year-old trade dispute, the World Bank says this will be less of a drag on growth even as both economies slow.
