Market News

CBK bullish on 2017 economic growth

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Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge. file photo | nmg

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has played down the impact of the ongoing political noise on the growth of the economy, contradicting economists who have projected the growth to fall below five per cent for the year.

CBK governor Patrick Njoroge said the annulment of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election by the Supreme Court on September 1 and the ordering of a fresh poll has only delayed decision-making for “a few weeks”, with no significant impact on growth.

“We Kenyans tend to be very loud with our politics, but we are also very resilient as a people.  The expectation is that every Kenyan will go out and vote and the outcome of that is something that we will all support because we know that this will lead to market-based policies in the next five years,” Dr Njoroge told reporters in Nairobi Wednesday on the sidelines of Renaissance Capital third annual investment conference.

“We have a very favourable outlook and asked them (investors) to take a long-term bet. This is the time to make a long-term bet on the economy.”

READ: Ignore the political noise, President tells executives

His sentiments come after economists at Stanbic Bank and Citi Research separately this week slashed growth outlook to below five per cent from 5.2 per cent prior to election, the slowest growth since 4.6 per cent in 2012.

Dr Njoroge, however, said investors have since reacted “favourably” and have recovered following the court’s decision. “we are cautiously optimistic,” he said.