NAIROBI: KENYA’s imports from the US fell by 80.76 per cent during first quarter of the current financial year, which began in July. This dragged down the total value of the country’s imports during the quarter by 13.55 per cent to Sh287.12 billion from Sh332.13 billion recorded in the same period in 2014, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data shows. The Leading Economic Indicators survey published on Friday shows the value of imports from the US dropped to Sh13.24 billion between July and September from Sh68.85 billion in 2014.
The value of imports from the US last year was boosted by new planes from Boeing ordered by national carrier Kenya Airways under its current expansion project. The value of imports from India also fell to Sh57.12 billion from Sh66.41 billion. Imports from Saudi Arabia and France also fell. However, the value of Kenya’s imports from China rose by 21.59 per cent to Sh95.73 billion from Sh78.73 billion.
The country also recorded increased imports from United Arabs Emirates, UK, South Africa, Japan, Germany and Netherlands. The data shows most of the imports over the period were industrial supplies, followed by machinery and transport equipment. “Broad economic category imports indicate that industrial supplies (non-food) was the main import category in September, with a share of 36.2 per cent, while the values of fuel and lubricants, machinery & other capital equipment and transport equipment registered shares of 11.6, 19.7 and 15.6 per cent, respectively,” KNBS stated.
On the other hand, the total value of exports increased by 28.26 per cent to Sh164.42 billion from Sh128.19 billion during the review period, mainly pushed by exports to Uganda, UK and US. Exports to Uganda increased by 41.25 per cent to Sh20.96 billion from Sh12.21 billion, those to the UK rose by 26.02 per cent to Sh11.33 billion from Sh8.99 billion, while exports to the US increased by 24.73 per cent to Sh12.52 billion from Sh10.04 billion.
