Kenya’s economy to expand by 5.8% this year, says finance ministry

Kenya’s economy is likely to grow 5.8 percent this year, recovering from drought and political uncertainty that pushed growth down to an estimated 4.8 percent in 2017, the finance ministry said.

Economic output in the East African nation, which relies on farming and tourism, grew 5.8 percent in 2016.

The Finance Ministry said in its latest budget outlook paper that risks to growth could come from adverse weather, public spending pressure, especially from recurrent expenditure.

The government plans to cut its budget deficit to 6.0 percent of gross domestic product in the next financial year starting July, and to 3.0 percent by 2022, from 8.9 percent in the financial year to end of last June.

The overall budget is expected to rise to 2.49 trillion shillings ($24.63 billion)in 2018/19, or 26 percent of GDP from 2.32 trillion shillings in 2017/18, or 27 percent of GDP.

Kenyan officials are conducting a roadshow for a planned issue of 10-year and 30-year Eurobonds that sources with knowledge of the issue would be worth a minimum of $1.5 billion.