Kenya Economic Growth Beats Estimates as Agriculture Slump Ends
- GDP expanded 5.3% in first quarter; analysts expected 3.3%
- Agriculture grew 5.8% after four quarters of contraction
Farmers adjust a nylon sheet containing coffee beans on a raised drying bed at a farming cooperative in Kiambu County, Kenya.
Photographer: Patrick Meinhardt/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Kenya’s economy grew faster than anticipated in the first quarter after the agriculture sector snapped four consecutive quarters of contraction.
Gross domestic product in the three months through March rose 5.3% from a year earlier, compared with an downwardly revised 3.7% in the previous quarter, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in an emailed report on Tuesday. That was the fastest quarterly growth in a year and beat the median of three economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey for expansion of 3.3%.