Additionally, the economy grew by 6.3 percent in second quarter of 2018 and 6.0 percent in the third quarter of 2018 to record an average growth of 6.0 percent for the three quarters compared to an average growth of 4.7 percent over the same period in 2017.
According to one of Kenya’s leading investment companies, Cytonn Investments, the improved growth was against a backdrop of a stable macroeconomic environment.
“Out of the seven metrics that we track, five had a positive effect while two had a neutral effect, compared to the beginning of the year where four had a positive outlook, two had a neutral outlook and one factor had a negative outlook,” said Faith Maina, Senior Investment Analyst at Cytonn.
“Generally, macroeconomic fundamentals remained positive during the year because of an improved business environment created through political goodwill and improved security in the country,” added Maina in a report issued in Nairobi.
According to the report, Sub-Saharan Africa economic growth remained relatively strong in 2018 with preliminary data indicating that the region recorded a 2.7 percent GDP growth in 2018, better than the 2.3percent recorded in 2017.
Regional currencies depreciated in 2018 underpinned by capital outflows from emerging markets to advanced markets, following a tightening of monetary policy in the United States, as well as the strengthening dollar, coupled with events in the global markets, which included the trade war between China and the USA, noted the report.