Kepsa says about 51 per cent of businesses had recorded a recovery of less than 50 per cent since September while 12 per cent were yet to resume operations due to a lack of cash.
Economic activity has been subdued for much of this year, hurt by lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus.
A majority of private firms in Kenya are yet to regain their footing despite the gradual reopening of key business sectors, a survey shows, pointing to a prolonged recovery for the economy battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
A report by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) said about 51 per cent of businesses had recorded a recovery of less than 50 per cent since September while 12 per cent were yet to resume operations due to a lack of cash.
The report further shows that only two per cent of the firms have fully recovered from the economic fallout of the pandemic while another seven per cent stated they were doing much better than they did before the outbreak of the coronavirus in Kenya.
“Following the phased reopening of the economy, business recovery has begun though at a slow pace,” Kepsa says in its report.
Economic activity has been subdued for much of this year, hurt by lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus including a country-wide dusk-to-dawn curfew, restrictions on travel in and out of the capital Nairobi and closure of learning institutions, hotels and restaurants.
Some businesses in the accommodation and food services, learning institutions and entertainment joints were forced to shut down following government restrictions to contain the virus.
The disruption saw Kenya’s economy contract by 5.7 per cent in the second quarter, the deepest in nearly two decades, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data.
This was the only quarter-two gross domestic product contraction ever registered since 2001 — according to available data by the KNBS — an indication of the impact of the pandemic on key economic sectors such as transport, manufacturing and hospitality.
The easing of measures such as nightly curfew, resumption of both domestic and international flights and a ban on travel restrictions in August has seen a pick-up in operations.
Businesses have expressed optimism of recovery by the end of the year or in 2021, especially those in health, education manufacturing, finance and insurance. As a result, the report has quoted that 43 per cent of the businesses surveyed expect a full recovery in 2021 while eight per cent expect full recovery by the end of this year.
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