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Kenya's private sector had a 3 consecutive month improvement in productivity in addition to its three straight months of declining inflation.
According to a survey, this increased activity in the private sector was aided by wholesale, retail, service, and agriculture businesses.
The S&P Global Kenya Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) increased from 51.6 in December to 52.0 in January. Business activity is said to be growing when the reading is above 50.0 and contracting when it is below that level.
"For the second month running, construction was the only monitored sector to see a decline in sales, contrasting with rises in agriculture, manufacturing, services, and wholesale & retail," S&P Global relayed via a comment accompanying the survey.
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However, respondents to the study were worried about inflationary pressures brought on by increasing taxes and a depreciating shilling.
Very recently, it was reported that Kenya’s private sector would have to step up to boost the country’s overall economic growth, including in its geothermal energy field.
A report by Business Daily Africa revealed that, for Kenya to tap into the full potential of its geothermal energy, and solidify the nation's status as a geothermal energy producer, the private sector would need to be heavily involved.
The private sector would enable a broad, strong, and growing geothermal sector by bringing innovation, flexibility, financial efficiency, and quality assurance in addition to bringing energy security by diversifying projects out of the government's control.
This is a small sample size of how crucial activity in Kenya’s private sector is to the country’s economy.
The Kenyan Private Sector Alliance a few weeks back held a meeting with a delegation from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Government of Finland, the Nordic Development Fund, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, and the African Circular Economy Alliance, where they discussed economic sustainability and climate change.
Kenya’s economic forecast for 2023 by a few economic organizations, has been inauspicious, however, the country’s performance for the first month of the year has been contrary to expert opinion. As mentioned earlier the country’s inflation rate dipped in January for the third consecutive month. Read the story here.
Also, the value of the Kenyan shilling fell 9% against the dollar at the end of 2022, and it would seem that this trend has continued into the new year.