Key Figures on Kenya’s 2019 Economic Performance

ROADS

The total length of roads paved increased by 14.2 per cent to 21,295.1 kilometres in 2019. Uptake of credit in the construction sector grew by 1.6 per cent in 2019 compared to a 1.8 per cent growth in 2018

TRANSPORT AND STORAGE

Transportation and Storage sector expanded by 7.8 per cent in 2019 compared to 8.5 per cent growth in 2018, riding on low international oil prices and the continued expansion of roads, railway lines and ports.

MOMBASA PORT

Total cargo throughput and the number of ships docking at the port of Mombasa increased by 11.3 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively, in 2019

AIR TRANSPORT

Total passenger traffic by air increased from 11.7 million in 2018 to 12.1 million in 2019.

OIL

In 2019, the volume of pipeline throughput increased by 11.1 per cent mainly attributed to the completion of the new Nairobi-Mombasa 20-inch multi-product pipeline

RAIL TRANSPORT

In railway transportation, the volume of freight transported through the SGR increased by 43.5 per cent from 2,899 tonnes in 2018 to 4,159 tonnes in 2019.

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

The sector’s growth slowed to 8.8 per cent in 2019 from 11.3 per cent in 2018. The growth was anchored on the rapid expansion of the telecommunication sub-sector through the introduction of new products as well as leveraging on economies of scale associated with high levels of mobile cellular penetration.

MOBILE PENETRATION

The total number of mobile subscriptions increased by 10.2 per cent to stand at 54.6 million subscribers in the period under review. Similarly, the number f domestic call minutes increased from 55.9 billion minutes in 2018 to 58.7 billion minutes in 2019.

MOBILE CASH

Mobile money transfer increased by 9.1 per cent to KSh 4,346.0 billion in 2019 from KSh 3,984.0 billion in 2018. The sector’s performance was also enhanced by increased access to internet services in 2019.

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS

The number of internet service providers increased from 256 in 2018 to 302 in 2019. Total utilized bandwidth increased profoundly during the year under review to stand at 2.7 million megabits per second.

FINANCE AND INSURANCE

Financial and Insurance sector grew by 6.6 per in 2019 compared to 5.3 per cent growth in 2018. Financial services sub-sector grew by 5.7 per cent in 2019 relative to 4.8 per cent recorded in 2018. Domestic credit grew by 7.5 per cent in 2019 compared to a growth of 6.4 per cent in 2018. In the insurance sub-sector, net premium from life insurance increased from KSh 80.4 billion in 2018 to KSh 90.5 billion while general insurance business recorded a decelerated growth of 1.1 per cent in 2019.

TOURISM

Tourism earnings grew by 3.9 per cent from KSh 157.4 billion in 2018 to KSh 163.6 billion in 2019. The slowed growth was evident in the marginal growth of 0.4 per cent in the number of international visitor arrivals to stand at 2.1 million visitors in 2019. Hotel bed night occupancy increased from 8.6 million in 2018 to 9.2 million in 2019. Further, the sector’s performance was boosted by conference tourism that expanded by 14.0 per cent in 2019.

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