State of the Economy: Focus on Digitisation and the Impact of COVID-19 on MSEs

In Kenya, the trend of divergent impact continues, with macroeconomic resilience masking sustained inequalities and divergence in recovery. On one hand, inflation remains reasonable, export performance has been relatively strong (especially relative to other African countries), diaspora remittances have been robust, and the mobile money sector has demonstrated sustained resilience and growth. On the other hand, inflation continues to disproportionately affect low-income groups, key sectors such as tourism remain deeply affected, and job recovery has been weak. Further, there are already signs of economic stress emerging linked to the March 2021 lockdown.