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Kenya --Trade
Kenya
typically has a substantial trade
deficit with countries outside Africa.
Its ratio
of imports and exports had fluctuated
widely but an overall pattern decline
is unmistakable. By the early 1980s,
export revenues amounted to less than
60% of import costs. The deficit on
current account is, however, much
lower because of the favorable balance
in the export of services and net
transfers, which went from $173.8
million in 1985 to 68.5 million in
1986, to 520.3 million in 1990, $214.8
million in 1991, and $97.7 million
in 1992, with a positive balance in
1993 at $153 million, and a comparable
figure for 1994. Export revenues derive
from agricultural crops like coffee,
tea, sisal, pyrethrum, sugar-cane,
and horticultural products. Many of
these products have been subject to
fluctuations in production and price
in the world market.
Many Kenyan
goods are exported to European Union
member countries, especially the UK.
But regional trade is likely to increase
due to the restitution of a tri-national
commission with Uganda and Tanzania.
Kenya has also joined COMESA, the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern
Africa, and hopes to reduce tariffs
on the sale of its exports abroad
The government hhas made efforts to
diversifyits economic base by stimulating
production of nontraditional exports,
in an attempt to reduce the dependence
on the fluctuating world prices that
has hampered profits on its main agricultural
commodities. These efforts have encouraged
production of new kinds of horticultural
produce, canned pineapple products,
handicrafts, clothing, leather, cement,
soda ash, and fluorspar. The government
is also encouraging efforts to export
manufactured goods including textiles,
paper, and vehicles. Most of Kenya's
imports are commodities produced in
the UK, Japan, and Germany. Crude
oil is imported from the United Arab
Emirates, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Source:
The Economist Intelligence Unit, 1998,
Country Profile. Kenya, The Unit:
London.
Resources researched
by
Abdelaziz Marhoum, & David A. Samper
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