Political Information

Source: Economic Intelligence Unit

Political and Economic Stability

Kenya is central to the economic stability of East Africa. It is considered the most industrialized and top performer in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya has strong financial services, infrastructure and private sector which contributes significantly to the country’s growth in the region. The country’s current governance system and its policies focus on increasing the private sector and growing the middle class in alignment with the vision 2030 by achieving a 10% GDP growth rate by 2017.

Besides challenges including poverty and unemployment, Kenya’s growth is projected to rise to 6.0 % in 2016 and 6.1% in 2017. The country is expected to increase investment in infrastructure and lower domestic interest rates. According to the October 2015 Kenya Economic Update, Kenya is poised to be among the fastest growing economies in Eastern Africa. The 2016 Country Economic Memorandum says that Kenya’s growth prospects will depend a lot on innovation, oil, and urbanization on the long term.

Kenya has achieved some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which include reduced child mortality, near universal primary school enrolment and narrower gender gaps in education.  It has the potential to be one of the fastest growing country of Africa by addressing the challenges of poverty, population and education.

Security

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) recommends that Canadians exercise a high degree of caution when traveling in Kenya due to an increasing number of terrorist attacks and incidents of crime. While there is no national advisory in effect for Kenya, GAC advises against all travel to northeast Kenya near the Somalia border as well as near the borders with South Sudan and Ethiopia due to risk of kidnapping, armed banditry and cross-border violence. GAC also advises against non-essential travel to the Eastleigh neighbourhood of Nairobi where several attacks have been taken place as well as non-essential travel to Mombasa due to current elevated threat of terrorism. For detailed and up-to-date information on travel security, please refer to the GAC Travel Report for Kenya.

Business Climate

The World Bank’s annual Doing Business report ranks economies from 1 to 190 (with 1 being the best) on their ease of doing business. In the 2016 report, Kenya ranked 108 overall and 131 for Trading Across Borders, which measures the ease with which a standardized shipment of goods can be imported or exported across its borders. The average time to ship goods out of Kenya is higher than the regional average at approximately 21 days, with an average estimated cost of $CAD 2,960 per 20-foot container. To complete the export process, eight forms of documentation are required: Cargo release order, Certificate of origin (COMESA), Commercial invoice, Customs release order, Customs Transit Document, Export Declaration, Inland Bill of lading, Packing list.

Although there are many reputable exporters in Kenya, Canadian importers should be aware that corruption could be an issue when doing business in the country. Kenya ranked 139 out of 168 in Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Perceptions Indexwhere 1^st place indicates least corrupt.  Canadian companies are advised to exercise strict due diligence before working with a company from Kenya to ensure that it is a bona fide and reputable entity. It is suggested that Canadian importers commission a report by a credit information provider to verify the financial strength of the partner.

TFO Canada Export Offers

TFO Canada provides an information service for Canadian importers interested in sourcing products from developing and emerging economies such as Tunisia. This includes practical advice on sourcing from developing country exporters, a customized news bulletin including new leads from Tunisia as they come in, and a searchable database for sourcing new products and suppliers. The chart below provides a rough idea of the number of supplier profiles from Kenya, available online with contact information through TFO Canada’s searchable Supplier Database.