Kenyan economic growth rises to 5.9% year-on-year in Q3

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s economy grew 5.9% year-on-year in the third quarter of this year, compared to 4.3% growth in the same quarter of 2022, official data showed on Friday.

“This growth was mainly supported by a rebound in agricultural activities that had contracted in 2022,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said in a report.

Thanks to favourable weather conditions in the quarter, agriculture, forestry, and fishing grew by 6.7% compared to a contraction of 1.3% in the third quarter of 2022, the KNBS said.

The East African country’s economy has been among the fastest-growing on the continent in recent years, but a heavy debt load and a weakening currency have emerged as potential problems.

(Reporting by Hereward Holland; Editing by Alexander Winning)

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