The major industries driving the Kenyan economy include financial services, agriculture, real estate, manufacturing, logistics, tourism, retail and energy.

[18] The government of Kenya is generally investment-friendly and has enacted several regulatory reforms to simplify foreign and local investment, including the creation of an export processing zone.

An increasingly significant portion of Kenya's foreign financial inflows are remittances by Kenyans in the Diaspora, who work in the United States, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

[19] According to data by the Central Bank of Kenya,[20] remittances from Kenyans living abroad make up over 3.4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

[21] This growth was attributed largely to expansions in the telecommunications, transport, and construction sectors; a recovery in agriculture; and the rise of small businesses helping to pull the economy.

[26] In 1499 AD, Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, returned to Europe after discovering the sea route to India through South Africa.

[32][33] During the colonial period, the European settler farming community and the Indian dukawallahs established the foundations of the modern formal Kenyan economy.

An influential sessional paper authored by Tom Mboya and Mwai Kibaki in 1965 stressed the need for Kenya to avoid both the capitalistic economy of the West and the communism of the East.

[42] The Kenyan economy performed very poorly during this era of World Bank and IMF-driven liberalisation at the height of Daniel Arap Moi administration.

[45] In 1997, however, the economy entered a period of slow growth, due in part to adverse weather conditions and reduced economic activity before the general elections in December 1997.

[51][52] However, in 2009, due to drought and the global financial crisis, high input costs as well as a fall in demand for some of the country's exports caused the agriculture sector to contract by 2.7%.

[57][58] The table below shows the GDP of Kenya estimated Archived 11 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine by the International Monetary Fund, with exchange rates for Kenyan shillings.

Vision 2030 is Kenya's current blueprint for its economic future, with the goal of creating a prosperous, globally-competitive nation with a high quality of life by 2030.

[62] In 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta established the Big Four Agenda, focusing on universal healthcare, manufacturing, affordable housing and food security.

It targets five main areas: the rule of law under the Constitution of Kenya, electoral and political processes, democracy and public service delivery, transparency and accountability, and security, peace building, and conflict management.

In the last 10 years of the Moi regime, the government was spending 94% of all its revenue on salaries and debt servicing to the IMF, World Bank and other western countries.

[80] As part of its efforts to manage and diversify its financing strategies, the Kenyan government, with assistance from the World Bank, plans to issue Africa’s first sustainability-linked bond by November of this year.

This bond, aimed at raising $500 million, will support the general budget while aligning with pre-determined performance goals in environmental, social, health, and energy sectors.

The issuance is part of a broader strategy to address an expected budget deficit of 3.9% of GDP for the fiscal year ending June 2025 and represents a significant development in sustainable financing on the continent.

[82] The initiative aimed to stimulate economic activity in Kenya through investment in long-term solutions to food insecurity, rural unemployment and underdevelopment.

Stated improvement objectives included regional development for equity and social stability, infrastructure, education, affordable health-care, environmental conservation, information and communications technology capacity, and access to IT.

Notwithstanding this, Kenya's apparel industry is struggling to hold its ground against Asian competition and runs a trade deficit with the United States.

The trade balance fluctuates widely because Kenya's main exports are primary commodities subject to the effects of both world prices and weather.

[69] Tea, coffee, sisal, pyrethrum, corn, and wheat are grown in the fertile highlands, one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa.

Apart from soda ash, the chief minerals produced are limestone, gold, salt, large quantities of niobium, fluorspar, and fossil fuel.

The rapid expansion of the sector immediately after independence stagnated in the 1980s, hampered by shortages in hydroelectric power, high energy costs, dilapidated transport infrastructure, and the dumping of cheap imports.

In addition, a substantial and expanding informal sector engages in small-scale manufacturing of household goods, motor-vehicle parts, and farm implements.

The World Bank characterises non-farm self-employment to include jobs such as "street vendor, shop owner, dressmaker, assistant, fishmonger, caterer, etc."

Rising costs of education and uncertainty about future employment have caused many workers to enter the informal economy, due to lower entry fees as well as shorter and practical training and apprenticeships.

This article incorporates text from a scholarly publication published under a copyright license that allows anyone to reuse, revise, remix and redistribute the materials in any form for any purpose: Ellis, Amanda; Cutura, Jozefina; Dione, Nouma; Gillson, Ian; Manuel, Clare; Thongori, Judy.