The latest quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that the economy grew to 5.4 percent between April and June this year, a small upgrade from 5.2 percent in a similar period last year.

Financial and insurance (13.5 percent), accommodation and food service (12.2 percent), and information and communication (6.4 percent) are other sectors that contributed to the growth.

The April-June period, for instance, saw a 15 percent jump in tea production to 155.5 metric tonnes as well as a 13.7 percent increase in coffee exports to 18.9 thousand metric tonnes.

Likewise, fruit and vegetable exports improved from 28,863.3 metric tonnes and 14,626.7 metric tonnes to 64,367.7 metric tonnes and 19,598.5 metric tonnes, respectively.

“However, there were declines in production of cut flower and sugarcane during the period under review compared to the corresponding quarter in 2022,” KNBS data stated.

“Sugar cane deliveries declined from 2,156.0 thousand metric tonnes in the second quarter of 2022 to 1,250.3 thousand metric tonnes in the second quarter of 2023,” it added.

KNBS’s Quarterly Balance of Payments also shows that the current account deficit narrowed from Sh206.2 billion in the second quarter of 2022 to Sh138.7 billion in the second quarter of 2023.

“The balance on merchandise trade recorded an improvement from a deficit of KSh 365.8 billion in the second quarter of 2022 to a deficit of KSh 343.2 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2023,” said KNBS.

“This was attributable to a 9.6 per cent increase in exports of goods, coupled with a slight reduction in expenditure on imported commodities during the quarter under review. Tea and horticultural commodities were the key drivers in the growth of exports.”