NAIROBI: The World Bank on Thursday said it had cut Kenya’s 2015 economic growth forecast to 5.4 percent from 6 percent, citing volatile foreign exchange market and slow credit supply in east Africa’s biggest economy.
The WB made further forecast and said it would be 5.7 percent in 2016 from a previous estimate of 6.6 percent.
The World Bank said a slow credit supply and volatility in the foreign exchange market would likely prove a drag on growth. Kenya’s shilling has lost 14 percent against the dollar this year and interest rates have climbed.
‘If the supply of credit is constrained … this will have a big impact on the first quarter or the first half of 2016,’ said a senior World Bank economist John Randa in Nairobi.
