News

CBK governor faults growth amid job cuts

jobs

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has faulted the structure of Kenya’s economy for delivering economic growth without creating jobs or an increase in incomes. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has faulted the structure of Kenya’s economy for delivering economic growth without creating jobs or an increase in incomes.

CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge Monday said that households have not felt Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, arguing that increased infrastructure spending has not spread wealth among working Kenyans.

The comments come in a period when corporate Kenya has witnessed reduced profitability that has ushered in job cuts, freezes in hiring and near stagnant wages as companies race to protect their profit margins despite a 5.6 percent growth in the second quarter to June.

The number of formal jobs generated by the economy fell to a six-year low in 2018, worsening the plight of school leavers in the year that the Jubilee administration recorded its best economic performance with growth at 6.3 percent.

“It is true you have GDP numbers but you can’t eat GDP,” said Dr Njoroge during the launch of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regional outlook report. “At the end of the day, what is needed is specific income. That is what anybody else wants. Plus jobs.

“That is why we say central composition of growth is important because if it is just driven by infrastructure, that doesn’t quite bring income to your grandmother. She needs to care not because it is 6.5 percent but because of what really hits her pocket books.”

Kenya has since 2013 embarked on major infrastructure projects to make up for decades of under-investment that stunted economic growth.

This is underlined by the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway from Mombasa to Naivasha using nearly Sh500 billion of Chinese loans in a borrowing binge that economists say is saddling future generations with too much debt.

“We may see a very good growth, but we are very much aware that it is not reaching the disadvantaged,” said Geoffrey Mwau, the director of budget at the National Treasury.

The drop in new jobs combined with stagnant wages raise queries over equitable distribution of the growth dividend among Kenyans considering the economic growth expansion witnessed recently.

While Kenya’s economy expanded 6.3 percent last year from 4.8 percent in 2017, private sector activity — which translates to jobs and higher pay — has remained muted.

“If you look at the employment index (in the PMI) since the beginning of 2017, it’s been quite neutral, meaning it’s not like there has been improvement in new jobs,” said Jibran Qureishi, the regional economist for East Africa at Stanbic Bank, which tracks company performance monthly through the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

Economic Survey 2019 data shows that 78,400 new formal jobs were created in the economy in 2018 compared to 114,400 in 2017. This was the slowest pace of formal job growth since 2012 when the economy churned out 75,000. The data does not capture job cuts and net employment.

Companies are struggling with reduced sales and profits in the soft economy. More than 15 of the 62 companies listed on the NSE reported net profit drops by at least 25 percent last year compared with 2017.