Economy

50pc drop in number of letters sent by post

posta

Staff sort out mail at the Nyeri Post Office. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The number of letters Kenyans sent locally fell by almost half in the quarter to March 2017, highlighting the continued decline of the postal sector.

According to statistics released by the Communications Authority on Friday, Kenyans sent 8.2 million letters in the three months to March, 48.3 per cent lower than the 15.9 million in the previous quarter.

While this decline is expected with the end of the holiday and examination season, the numbers are still significantly lower than the 12.9 million letters that were sent during a similar period last year.

These trends point to the urgency of measures being taken by the government to find alternative sources of revenue in the sector and to rescue the ailing Postal Corporation of Kenya. One of the solutions touted is e-commerce.

“However, the growth in online shopping could fuel the volume of parcels sent in the near future and the relative ease of shopping online will open up opportunities to buy and sell from people and companies in other countries,” says CA.

READ: Post boxes, sending letters to cost more

The statistics seem to reflect this sentiment. While the number of courier items fell marginally quarter on quarter, there was an increase of over half a million in the parcels sent locally on an annual basis.

Incoming international letters fell 58 per cent  on quarterly basis to 964,013 while outgoing letters fell 52.1 per cent to 912,825.

In both cases, these figures are less than half those reported during a similar period last year.