NAIROBI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Treasury on Wednesday revised down its economic growth forecast to 5.5 percent in 2024 from 6 percent it projected earlier in the year, citing unpredictable weather which could affect output from the agricultural sector.
Njuguna Ndung'u, the cabinet secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning, told a forum in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that the growth outlook will be supported by a broad-based private sector growth, including the continued strong performance of the service sector.
"The outlook will be reinforced by the implementation of policies and reforms under the priority sectors of Kenya's development blueprint, the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA)," Ndung'u said during the public sector hearings on the budget proposals for the financial year 2024/2025 and the medium-term.
According to the National Treasury, the economy is projected to expand 5.5 percent in 2023 from a growth of 4.8 percent in 2022.
Ndung'u stressed that despite the challenging environment, the economy is demonstrating resilience with economic growth well above the global and Sub-Saharan Africa average.
He noted that in the first half of 2023, the economic growth averaged 5.4 percent and was primarily underpinned by a rebound in agricultural activities, following improved weather conditions and the impact of fertilizer and seed subsidies provided to farmers by the government.
"The service sector remained vibrant during the period thereby supporting growth. All economic sectors recorded positive growths, though the magnitudes varied across sectors," he said. ■
