Kenya's economic growth accelerates to 5.6% in 2023

Kenya's economy grew by 5.6% in 2023 from a revised 4.9% in the previous year, the head of the statistics office said yesterday, buoyed by robust output in the agriculture sector.

The East African nation's economy relies on farming, which contributes more than a fifth of annual economic output, and abundant rains after years of drought helped the sector to recover from contractions in the previous two years.

"Last year, it shot to 7% [growth]," Macdonald Obudho, the director-general of the statistics office, told an event to launch the economic growth report for the period.

Tourism, which is another key sector, also posted growth, Obudho said, with visitor arrivals surpassing the annual pre-pandemic level of two million, to 2.087 million visitors last year.