Economy expands by 25% placing Kenya in the club of Africa’s top 10

Kenya has climbed up the wealth rankings to become Africa’s ninth-largest economy following a review of national output figures that also saw the country join the world’s league of middle-income nations. Fresh national statistics unveiled yesterday show that Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP) was last year underestimated by a quarter. [...]

despite the growth revision

Kenya still good for soft loans, IMF boss says

Kenya will still qualify for soft loans and other funding from the World Bank, even though the size of the economy has been revised upwards. According to Mr Armando Morales, the International Monetary Fund’s resident representative in Kenya, the economy may be 25% larger than before but it is still vulnerable to large shocks, making a low-interest loan programme vital. [...]

and yet:

Pine Bridge Investments lowers Kenya's growth outlook

Fund managers at Pine Bridge Investments have lowered their growth forecast for Kenya, citing insecurity, weakening shilling, resurgence in inflationary pressure, rising interest rates, increased government spending on recurrent activities and erratic weather patterns. This comes even as Kenyans warm up for a middle- income status under a revised method of computing Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which would increase the size of the economy by about 20 per cent. [...]

Exporters to pay Sh100 million a week on goods sold in Europe

Kenyan exporters to the European Union countries will, from today, be slapped with a duty of between 4%-24%. This follows the expiry of a 30-year trade agreement between the country and the union, and failure by Kenya, and other East Africa Community countries, to conclude new trade pacts. Experts fear that this will make some of the products uncompetitive, leading to market loss. [...]

Mwai Kibaki sells Nairobi’s Union Towers to varsity for Sh800m

Mr Kibaki has sold Union Towers, the 14-floor building in central Nairobi, to Mt Kenya University (MKU) for Sh800 million, making it one of the priciest real estate transactions this year. Mr Gicharu MKU's founder and chairman said the university had found the building’s location in Nairobi’s CBD attractive and suitable for its planned expansion to the city. The Economic Survey 2014 indicates that Kenya’s university student enrolment grew by 34.9 per cent to 324,560 last year from 240,551 the previous year. [...]