Kenya’s national wealth, also known as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at a rate of 5.6 per cent even as world real GDP slowed down to 3.1 per cent, compared to 3.5 per cent in 2022, according to highlights from the 2024 Economic Survey Report, which was launched on Monday, May 20, in Nairobi.
The growth was mostly attributed to the expansion of the agriculture sector, forestry and fishing, which grew by over 19 per cent. There was also an increase in formal sector jobs, which grew by 2.7 per cent to reach 363,200.
According to the report, unveiled by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u, the cost of living — also known as inflation — eased globally from 8.7 per cent in 2022 to 6.8 per cent last year. However, there was a decline in trade volumes, with a deceleration of 0.4 per cent last year compared to a growth of 5.2 per cent the previous year.
“Wage employment in the modern sector grew by 4.1 per cent, translating to 122.8 thousand jobs created in 2023,” says the report in its analysis of employment in Kenya, which it indicates grew by 4.4 per cent overall.
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In the public sector, education accounted for 445,400 jobs while public administration accounted for 343,900 jobs, bring the total public sector wage bill in the year under review to Sh832.7 billion.
Kenya’s huge public sector wage bill has been the subject of debate, with critics — including the Salaries and Remuneration Commission — arguing that it was consuming a disproportionate amount of tax revenue, thus starving resources for development expenditure.
In terms of creating new jobs, the informal sector — also known as Jua Kali — registered a modest growth of 4.5 per cent in the year under review while in the private sector, manufacturing topped the table after creating 340,600 new jobs. As a result, the private sector wage bill stood at Sh1.97 trillion.
