Economy - overview: Kenya is well placed to serve as an engine of growth in East Africa, but its economy is stagnating because of poor management and uneven commitment to reform. In 1993, the government of Kenya implemented a program of economic liberalization and reform that included the removal of import licensing, price controls, and foreign exchange controls. With the support of the World Bank, IMF, and other donors, the reforms led to a brief turnaround in economic performance following a period of negative growth in the early 1990s. Kenya's real GDP grew 5% in 1995 and 4% in 1996, and inflation remained under control. Growth slowed in 1997-99 however. Political violence damaged the tourist industry, and Kenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program lapsed due to the government's failure to maintain reform or address public sector corruption. A new economic team was put in place in 1999 to revitalize the reform effort, strengthen the civil service, and curb corruption, but wary donors continue to question the government's commitment to sound economic policy. Long-term barriers to development include electricity shortages, the government's continued and inefficient dominance of key sectors, endemic corruption, and the country's high population growth rate.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $45.1 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.5% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,600 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 26%
industry: 18%
services: 56% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: 42% (1992 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.2%
highest 10%: 47.7% (1992)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 9.2 million (1998 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 75%-80%

Unemployment rate: 50% (1998 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $2.91 billion
expenditures: $2.97 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Industries: small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural products processing; oil refining, cement; tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 1% (1999 est.)

Electricity - production: 4.23 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 8.27%
hydro: 82.74%
nuclear: 0%
other: 8.99% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 4.078 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 144 million kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: coffee, tea, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs

Exports: $2.2 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Exports - commodities: tea, coffee, horticultural products, petroleum products (1995)

Exports - partners: Uganda 16%, UK 13%, Tanzania 13%, Egypt 5%, Germany 5% (1998)

Imports: $3.3 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, iron and steel

Imports - partners: UK 12%, UAE 9%, US 8%, Japan 8%, Germany 6%, India 4% (1998)

Debt - external: $6.5 billion (1998)

Economic aid - recipient: $457 million (1997)

Currency: 1 Kenyan shilling (KSh) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Kenyan shillings (KSh) per US$1 - 73.943 (December 1999), 70.326 (1999), 60.367 (1998), 58.732 (1997), 57.115 (1996), 51.430 (1995)

Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June