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By Remie S.
The country’s economy grew in the first quarter of 2016 on improved performance across all sectors and particularly tourism industry, the statistics office has said.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said Thursday in a statement that the economy expanded by 5.9 percent in the first three months of the year compared to 5.0 percent in the same period last year.
“All sectors of the economy posted positive and the most notable improvement was a rebound in activities of accommodation and food services which expanded by 12.1 per cent in the period under review compared to 11.4 per cent during the same quarter in 2015,” it said in a statement.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing; transport and storage as well as mining sector also recorded improved growths during the review quarter, the statistics office said.
On the other hand according to KNBS, the construction sector, finance and insurance registered slowed but robust growths during the period under review, while growth of the manufacturing sector remained depressed over the same period.
Inflation rose to average at 7.0 per cent during the quarter under review, compared to 5.8 per cent in the first quarter last year.
The value of exports of coffee and tea rose by 7.6 per cent and 24.5 per cent, respectively over the same period on account of improved international prices.
Kenya’s total power generation increased by 8.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 from 2,235.43 Kwh in the first quarter of 2015 to 2,241.18 Kwh in the quarter under review, while generation from hydro and geothermal increased by 26.5 and 4.4 per cent, respectively, but that of thermal declined by 17.5 per cent during the review period.
The Kenya Shilling depreciated against the US Dollar, Japanese Yen, the Euro and the Sterling Pound by 11.6, 15.5, 10.5 and 5.6, per cent, respectively. Regionally, the Kenya Shilling depreciated against the Tanzanian Shilling but appreciated against the Uganda and South Africa Rand by 20.6 and 16.4 per cent, respectively.