The Covid-19 pandemic has impoverished an additional two million Kenyans, a new report by the World Bank reveals.
With a growing unemployment, the development is a setback to the poverty reduction efforts made in the last five years. The report, which confirms that Kenya has slipped into a recession, projects that the economy will contract by one per cent this year.
However, Treasury says the growth projection for 2020 is 0.6 per cent and not 2.9 per cent as was captured in the Economy Recovery Strategy report.
The economy contracted by 5.7 per cent in the second quarter, and it would require a significant growth in the remaining period to offset this decline. That looks highly unlikely, given the current conditions.
“The global economy is tipped for a deep recession in 2020, with significant and potentially more prolonged negative spillovers on Kenya,” says the “Kenya Economic Update, November 2020.”
It adds that the coronavirus crisis has wiped out the recent gains the country has made in fighting poverty. Read more…
