Kenya cuts 2017 economic growth forecast to 5.5pc
Friday September 15 2017
Turkana women carry carcasses of animals they lost to biting drought near Lokitaung, Turkana County in northwestern Kenya on March 20, 2017. Kenya has cut its economic growth forecast citing severe drought in the first half of 2017. PHOTO | AFP
Kenya’s government cut its 2017 economic growth forecast on Friday to 5.5 per cent from an initial 5.9 per cent, a senior Treasury official said.
Kamau Thugge, the Treasury principal secretary, said growth would then rise to 6.5 per cent per year in the medium term.
“This is contingent on having good weather,” he told a meeting convened to discuss budget preparation.
Mr Thugge later told Reuters this year’s forecast was reduced due to a severe drought in the first half of 2017.