Kenya will attract more investors this election year compared to previous ones, thanks to long term investment strategies by local investment professionals supported by favourable investment policies by the government and infrastructure upgrade, Chartered Finance Analysts chief said yesterday.
Kenya’s economy grew 4.7 per cent in the first quarter of this year, down from 5.9 per cent in the same period of 2016. It is however much better compared to 1992 when it shrunk by 0.82 and a growth of 0.5 per cent recorded in 2002, this according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
Although the country recorded a high of 7.1 per cent in 2007, it shrunk to 1.7 per cent the following year due to election violence that saw at least 1300 killed while than 600,000 were displaced.
In his first official working visit to Kenya yesterday, CFA President Paul Smith asked investment professionals to ensure that their clients are having a pie of the ongoing scramble for Africa by providing them with sustainable and long term investment strategies that will yield value for money.
CFA’s assurance is validated by the 2017 Earnest & Young (EY) investor attractiveness survey that ranked Kenya second most attractive investment destination in Africa after Morocco.
EY’s Africa attractiveness index released two months ago scored Kenya in the long-term outlook in governance and human development,16 out of 20, economic diversification at 10 out of 20, infrastructure and logistics ( 16 out of 20 ) and improved business environment rating that stood at 10 out of 20.
The report adds that multinationals keen on reaching the thriving 180 million people East Africans are seeking to establish regional hubs in Kenya to take advantage of the free trade area that allows free movement of goods, people and capital across East Africa.
It revealed that investors have confidence in the potential displayed by the stable growth of the Kenyan Economy in the last four years with a big mass of consumers entering the middle income earners bracket, translating into a big number of Kenyans having a sustainable disposable income.