Kenya

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Country summary

Capital

Nairobi

Borders

Ethiopia 861 km, Somalia 682 km, Sudan 232 km, Tanzania 769 km, Uganda 933 km

Government type

republic

Population

39,002,772[1]

Population growth

2.691% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

57.86 years[1]

Unemployment

40% (2008 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

101[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

146[3]

Doing Business ranking

95[4]


Founding president and liberation struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA led Kenya from independence in 1963 until his death in 1978, when President Daniel Toroitich arap MOI took power in a constitutional succession. The country was a de facto one-party state from 1969 until 1982 when the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) made itself the sole legal party in Kenya. MOI acceded to internal and external pressure for political liberalization in late 1991. The ethnically fractured opposition failed to dislodge KANU from power in elections in 1992 and 1997, which were marred by violence and fraud, but were viewed as having generally reflected the will of the Kenyan people. President MOI stepped down in December 2002 following fair and peaceful elections. Mwai KIBAKI, running as the candidate of the multiethnic, united opposition group, the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), defeated KANU candidate Uhuru KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a campaign centered on an anticorruption platform. KIBAKI's NARC coalition splintered in 2005 over the constitutional review process. Government defectors joined with KANU to form a new opposition coalition, the Orange Democratic Movement, which defeated the government's draft constitution in a popular referendum in November 2005. KIBAKI's reelection in December 2007 brought charges of vote rigging from ODM candidate Raila ODINGA and unleashed two months of violence in which as many as 1,500 people died. UN-sponsored talks in late February produced a powersharing accord bringing ODINGA into the government in the restored position of prime minister.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Kenyan shilling (ISO code: KES)
  • Central bank discount rate: NA%[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: 14.8% (31 December 2009 )[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $6.068 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $5.468 billion (31 December 2008)[1]

Notable events:

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[7] 12 896 12 691 12 987 13 149 14 904 16 096 18 738 22 502 27 124 30 355
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[8] 52.644
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[9] 19.645 19.660 19.051 21.984 16.705 19.987 20.230 18.354 18.814 19.479
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[10] 16.773 18.468 18.985 18.906 20.859 18.188 19.748 19.563 21.468
Debt to revenue (years) 2.680

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Kenya", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  2. Heritage Foundation. "Kenya", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  3. Transparency International. "Kenya", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  4. Doing Business. "Kenya", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  5. Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 371. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-20.
  6. Carmen M. Reinhart. "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises" (pdf), March 3, 2010, p. 69. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-20.
  7. World Bank. "Kenya: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  8. World Bank. "Kenya: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  9. World Bank. "Kenya: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  10. World Bank. "Kenya: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.

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