by David Musyoka
NAIROBI, April 20 (Xinhua) -- China-funded infrastructure projects in Kenya helped the economy grow by an average of 5.5 percent in the last five years since 2013 compared to 4.5 percent average growth in the previous five-year period, a senior Kenyan official said on Friday.
Kamau Thugge, the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of National Treasury and Planning, said the elevation of Kenya last year by China as its strategic partner in the implementation of the Big Four Agenda will deepen development cooperation between the two countries.
Thugge called on Chinese companies to partner with the locals to take advantage of the support the government is offering that is focused on achieving the agenda's goals.
"Our average growth of manufacturing sector for example has to be three percent per year. So, we need to invest huge resources to ensure we meet our intended target of increasing the share of manufacturing to the economy from 9 percent to 15 percent," said Thugge, adding this demand for resources presents a good opportunity for the Chinese companies under the Big Four Agenda.
Big Four Agenda is a five-year development plan by President Uhuru Kenyatta to transform the lives of Kenyans through manufacturing, food security, universal health insurance and cheaper housing, meant to consolidate his legacy in his last term that ends in 2022.
Thugge said the economic growth realized because of the China-funded infrastructure also helped the country increase its income per capita from an average of 1,000 dollars per year in 2013 to 1,740 dollars in 2018.
"To ensure that the Big Four Agenda is not disrupted, we are committed to ensuring a stable economic growth. We have succeeded in maintaining low interest rate regime and our exchange rate has been stable over the years. This has been a deliberate action by the government," he said.
Thugge said under the food security agenda, Kenya plans to increase her annual maize output from 40 million 90 kg bags per year to 67 million bags.
It also plans to increase its annual rice production from the current 125,000 metric tonnes to 400,000 metric tonnes.
On health, he said the plan is to increase coverage of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) from the current 30 percent to 100 percent in the next five years.
On housing, he said Kenya has already set up the Kenya Mortgage Refinancing Company to give low interest rate loans for buying houses.
The plan is to reduce the cost of an average three-bedroom house from 50,000 dollars to 1,500 dollars.
Thugge said progressively, Kenya wants to borrow less towards the year 2022 and reduce the ratio of debt to the value of the economy to 3 percent from the current 56.4 percent.
Betty Maina, the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development, said within manufacturing, priority will be given to textiles, leather processing, agro-processing, setting up of industrial parks, and manufacturing of construction materials.
"This is because these industries have the potential to create the highest number of jobs. We have huge opportunities for China-Kenya cooperation in these areas," said Maina.
"I want to encourage Chinese investors to look beyond manufacturing for Kenya but also for the region," she added.
