A new report just produced by the global research and consultancy firm Oxford Business Group (OBG) shines a spotlight on Kenya’s ambitious infrastructural drive, which is playing a key role in boosting GDP growth.
The Report: Kenya 2017 pinpoints the opportunities emerging on the back of the country’s project pipeline, with real estate, power and transport infrastructure among the segments ripe for development.
Kenya’s ongoing industrialisation is also explored in OBG’s report, with a particular focus on the manufacturing sector, which has continued to gain momentum, despite low commodity prices and rising competition.
Having carved a niche as a major regional transit hub, transport and logistics remain at the core of Kenya’s economy. The Report: Kenya 2017 looks at the benefits that sound investment in related infrastructure has brought to the country, especially at the Port of Mombasa, which is a strategic landing point for goods earmarked for neighbouring markets.
The country’s tourism industry, now rallying after a period of decline and benefiting from heightened security support, is also analysed. Other topics examined include the government’s decentralisation drive, which has helped to produce new opportunities across several of Kenya’s lesser tapped provinces.
The Report: Kenya 2017 contains a contribution from President Uhuru Kenyatta, together with a detailed, sector-by-sector guide for investors. It also features a wide range of interviews with other high-profile personalities, including: Patrick Njoroge, governor, Central Bank of Kenya; Brigitte Zypries, federal minister of economic affairs and energy of Germany; and Akinwumi Adesina, president, African Development Bank.
Oliver Cornock, OBG’s Editor-in-Chief, said a diverse economy and strong private sector had helped Kenya to maintain its position as a regional powerhouse, viewed among investors as a destination for FDI with a track record of sustained growth.
“Unlike many of its peers, Kenya’s economy is broad based rather than overly reliant on the extractive industries, which has given it an advantage in the current climate of low commodity prices,” he said. “Other potential strengths, such as a sizable, young workforce and promising new finds in the form of oil, gas and water reserves, will also support new growth, if harnessed effectively.”
OBG’s managing editor for Africa, Robert Tashima, agreed that while a combination of external pressures had led to slowdowns in a number of Africa's larger economies, Kenya had so far managed to sidestep the worst of it, recording a steady growth rate in excess of 5%.
“Although there are plenty of challenges, including stubborn poverty levels in the north and a large informal sector, Kenya’s aggressive reforms to the business environment, along with a high financial inclusion rate, developed transport infrastructure and a diversified private sector, have left the country well placed to sustain its upward trajectory,” he noted.
The Report: Kenya 2017 marks the culmination of more than nine months of field research by a team of analysts from Oxford Business Group. The publication assesses trends and developments across the economy, including those in macroeconomics, infrastructure, banking and others.