A 2023 Gross County Product (GCP) report released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has revealed that there were significant differences in the size of the economy across counties from 2018 to 2022.
The report released on October 5, 2023, indicate that Nairobi City had the biggest disparity with the rest of the counties.
Only four counties (Nairobi (27.5%), Kiambu (5.7%), Nakuru (4.9%) and Mombasa (4.9 %) have a GVA contribution which is above 4.0 per cent.
Further, sixteen (16) counties registered an average real GCP growth above the national average growth (4.8%) for the period 2018 to 2022.
However, none of the counties registered a real GCP growth rate below 2.5 per cent in this period.
The Gross County Product Report also revealed that only seven counties had per capita GCP greater than the national GDP per capita of KSh 260,024 in 2022.
Eighteen (18) of the forty-seven (47) counties had a GCP per capita below KSh 150,000 in 2022. Moreover, counties with a wide range of agricultural products and large-scale grain farming were the major contributors to agriculture Gross Value Added (GVA).
Manufacturing activity
Counties with Export Processing Zones (EPZ) in their jurisdiction, such as Nairobi, Mombasa, and Machakos, posted larger contributions to manufacturing activity.
Nairobi City County was the largest contributor to service activity GVA.
The 2023 Gross County Product (GCP) report seeks to update the size of counties’ economies building on the previous series contained in previous GCP publications.
“This knowledge is critical for counties to estimate their revenue potential, investment and assess economic progress over time,” noted KNBS.
The GCPs also provide a monetary measure of the net market value of all final goods and services produced within each of the 47 counties for the period 2018 to 2022.
A full report can be accessed here.
