Kenya’s manufacturing and trade sector slowed in 2020 – KNBS

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 10- Kenya’s manufacturing sector and international trade performance was bleak in 2020 reflecting the harsh economic environment occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, contracting by 0.3 percent, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics has revealed.

The 2021 Economic Survey which was released on Thursday revealed that the slump was a result of a meltdown in economic activities due to measures instituted by the government to curb the spread of coronavirus disease.

This saw the formal employment in the sector down by 10.3 percent to 3.6 million in the period under review.

At the same time, the number of local employees in Export Processing Zone enterprises was down to 55,736.

Consequently, sales in the EPZ firms were up by 4.3 percent to stand at Sh80.5 billion in 2020 as imports contracted by 7.5 percent to Sh36.8 billion.

“The value of export articles of apparel under African Growth and Opportunity Act decreased by 8.3 percent to Sh42.3 billion in 2020 mainly due to inadequate supply of raw materials and the market lockdown in the USA,” it states.

During the period under review, Kenya’s total volume of trade was down to Sh2.29 trillion while imports were valued at Sh1.64 trillion as total exports stood at Sh640 billion.

Manufacturing sector performance was greatly boosted by tea, sugar, and cement production that grew by 24.1 percent, 36.9 percent, and 21.3 percent respectively.

Credit to the sector also grew by 11.8 percent to stand at Sh410.3 billion in 2020.

On the other hand, Kenya’s balance of trade deficit also reduced to Sh999.9 billion in 2020 from Sh1.2 trillion in 2019.

As a result, the sector witnessed reduced demand for manufacturing products both locally and internationally with the real gross value contracting by -0.1 percent compared to a growth of 2.5 percent in 2019.