Energy and ICT sectors score big in KEPSA survey

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Maggie Ireri, Director Tifa Research Limited, Carol Kariuki, CEO KEPSA and Patrick Tonui, Business Regulatory Enviroment consultant, KEPSA PHOTO COURTESY

Nairobi,KENYA:A report by Kenya Private Sector Alliance KEPSA and TIFA research on business confidence puts the energy and ICT Sectors as promising and vibrant.
During the release of the report  on Tuesday ,Kenya’s CEOs Business Confidence levels of the Energy sector  stood at 67 while ICT hit the 63 mark.

The 67 index points allocated to the Energy Sector can be attributed to the ongoing activities that are meant to improve the sector such as plans to increase electricity connectivity to the national grid from 28 per cent
to 65 per cent by 2022, introduction of the Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP), among others.

More factors driving the bullish environment could be the zero-rated import duty and VAT exemption equipment and accessories for entities producing electricity via solar energy.

The forecast trend for Kenya’s ICT Sector also came off as extremely favorable.

With strong support from the government, the ICT industry in Kenya is expected to grow by 20 per cent by 2017 with growth in the sector has mainly been driven by the mobile segment.
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In 2014, this sector grew with an impressive 13.4 per cent and this shows a consistent upward growth trajectory.

The Tourism Sector has an average confidence index of 50 points

“This was blamed on uncertainty experienced during periods of past election years with prospects of the sector fearing eruption of political violence and ethnic conflicts and general unrest,” said KEPSA CEO Carol
Kariuki during the release of the findings.

She explained that such environment keeps away tourists and that the aftermath of the spats of terror attacks on Kenyan soil did affect the sector adversely.

Meanwhile the confidence index of the Manufacturing Sector is at 49 index points.

This index is considered relatively optimistic considering the levels of growth of the sector in the past two years and projections ahead.

In 2015, the manufacturing sector contributed 10.5 per cent to country’s GDP in 2015 and the sector grew by 3.5 per cent.

However, the sector during 2016 had a downward trajectory with a 1.9 percent growth rate recorded for the last quarter of 2016.

The sector’s performance is way below the targets set in the Medium-Term Plans of 2012-2017 for the sector to grow by 8.7 per cent and remains a damper on the hopes of achieving the expected industrial developments in sync with vision 2030.

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