NAIROBI, May 6 (Xinhua) -- A faster rise in merchandise imports widened Kenya's trade deficit from 999.9 billion shillings (8.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020 to 1407.6 billion shillings in 2021, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
The KNBS said in the 2022 Economic Survey released on Thursday that expenditure on imports rose by 30.9 percent to 2151.2 billion shillings in 2021, largely on account of increased expenditure on petroleum products, iron and steel, animal fats and oil as well as vehicles.
The gradual easing of the COVID-19 containment protocols resulted in the opening of economies culminating in improved global trade in 2021.
In Kenya, the trade volume amounted to 2894.9 billion shillings in 2021 rising from 2287.3 billion in 2020. This was occasioned by a 30.9 percent growth in imports together with a 15.5 percent increase in total exports, according to the survey. ■