IMF Sees Surprise Upward Revision of Kenya’s Economic Growth
- Lender’s previous forecast was for GDP shrinking 0.3% in 2020
- Renaissance Capital forecasts Kenya’s economy to grow by 1.5%
Barrier tape cordons off seating to assist social distancing in the passenger waiting area inside a railway terminal in Nairobi, on Aug. 18.
Photographer: Patrick Meinhardt/BloombergThe International Monetary Fund will revise East Africa’s biggest economy’s gross domestic product upwards this year from an earlier forecast for a contraction even after key Kenyan industries were hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The change in outlook is supported by an improvement in several economic indicators and the lender now expects an “upward revision” of its June forecast for the economy to shrink by 0.3% in 2020, Tobias Rasmussen, the IMF’s resident representative for Kenya, said Wednesday at a virtual investor conference organized by Renaissance Capital. The IMF will release an updated Word Economic Outlook report next month, he said.