Four countries account for half of Kenya’s import bill

 

Four countries; China, United Arab Emirates (UAE), India and Saudi Arabia accounted for half of Kenya’s import bill last year.

Full-year trade data released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that Kenya’s import bill grew by four percent to Sh2.59 trillion, with the four countries swallowing Sh1.29 trillion- representing 50 percent of the total import expenditure.

The KNBS data reveals that non-food industrial supplies, fuel and lubricants, which come from the Middle East and other Asian countries, accounted for 60 percent of the import bill last year.

China, the primary source of Kenya’s electronics and other household commodities, posted a one percent growth in exports to Kenya hitting a new record of Sh459 billion.

The UAE, which largely exports fuel to Kenya, cemented its second place with goods worth Sh413.2 billion from Sh407.8 billion in 2022.

Receipts from exports crossed the Sh1 trillion mark for the first time growing by 15 percent buoyed by the sale of foodstuffs that rose by 19 percent to Sh398.7 billion.

Remarkable growth

The remarkable growth in export earnings compared to growth in expenditure on foreign goods, pushed the trade deficit downwards to Sh1.59 trillion from Sh1.62 trillion the previous year.

Receipts from Uganda rose by 41 percent to a record high of Sh113.8 billion representing 11 percent of total export earnings last year.

The jump was largely due to the increased sale of agricultural produce and fuel products to the landlocked country.

The jump in Uganda’s share in Kenya’s export earnings to over 10 percent, poses a concentration risk on Kenya’s export earnings should there be a fallout or a major shift in policy that sidelines Kenya.

Exports to the United States of America posted a rare and significant drop of 22 percent to Sh59.4 billion pushing it from the second biggest market to fourth behind Uganda, Pakistan and the Netherlands.

The drop in American imports from Kenya came despite the country shipping in goods worth Sh113 billion to Kenya — being a 22 percent rise from the previous year.

By TIMOTHY ODINGA