Kenya lies across the equator in east-central Africa, on the coast of the Indian Ocean. It is twice the size of Nevada. Kenya borders Somalia to the east, Ethiopia to the north, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan to the northwest.
In the north, the land is arid; the southwest corner is in the fertile Lake Victoria Basin; and a length of the eastern depression of the Great Rift Valley separates western highlands from those that rise from the lowland coastal strip.
Kenya’s growth is projected to rise to 5.9% in 2016 and 6.1 % in 2017. The positive outlook is predicated on infrastructure investments. Fiscal consolidation is expected to ease pressure on domestic interest rates and increase credit uptake by the private sector.
The contraction in the current account deficit will continue to be supported by declining commodity prices and rising exports of tea. Sound monetary policy restored stability in the currency markets and contained the 12-month average overall inflation at 6.6% in December 2015.
The Central Bank effectively managed currency volatility and running down Forex reserves to cushion the shilling. So, the Kenya shilling stabilized, and the depreciation moderated in comparison to other regional currencies. Low commodity prices had a net positive impact in Kenya in 2015.
The gains through low oil prices and the rising earnings from tea have offset the loss in earnings from other exports (coffee and horticulture). As a result, the current account deficit contracted from 10.4% to 7.1% of GDP. According to the October 2015 Kenya Economic Update, Kenya is poised to be among the fastest growing economies in Eastern Africa. Besides, the 2016 Country Economic Memorandum says that Kenya’s growth prospects will depend a lot on Innovation, Oil, and Urbanization on the long term.
Transport Industry Kenya has been making considerable headway over the past two years on a development agenda designed to strengthen the country’s position as a leading regional transport and logistics centre for the East Africa region.
Despite a hefty infrastructure deficit, transport investment is seen as vital. A key component of Kenya’s infrastructure plan is the Lamu Port-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor project, a $24.5bn development stretching across East Africa and northern Kenya. Equally significant is the Mombasa-alaba standard-gauge railway.
Transport activity is expanding in tandem with infrastructure spending. The country saw a 5% growth in the transport and storage sector in 2014, up from 1.22% the previous year.
Meanwhile, the total amount of freight traffic by rail grew by 24.3%, from 1.2m tonnes in 2013 to 1.5m tonnes in 2014, and container traffic at the Port of Mombasa rose from 894,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 1.01m TEUs over the same period.