Safaricom and Equity among Kenya’s top exporters

Giant telco Safaricom, cement manufacturers Lafarge-Bamburi Cement and beverage company East African Breweries rank among Kenya’s highest exporters in a top 10 list by World’s Top Exports (WTEx) which also comprises British American Tobacco and six banks.

Relying on data from MarcoPolis.net, WTEx says the 60% presence of banks on the top 10 list of Kenya’s company exporters is because they can support the country’s international trade projects.

The six banks listed are Equity Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, Barclays Bank and Diamond Trust Bank.

In an article on the WTEx website that appeared on June 23, Kenya’s export worth amounted to Ksh575 billion in 2017 as the country continued to enjoy an increase in export revenue from products sent out into the globe. This roughly translates to each Kenyan gaining Ksh12,000 each from exports.

This figure reflects a 0.9% gain from the previous year and represents a 3.8% increase in export revenue since  2013. WTEx further states that according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) World Factbook, the impact of exports on Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 13.9%.

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WTEx also breaks down how Kenyan exports are distributed across global regions. “From a continental perspective, 33.7% of Kenyan exports by value were delivered to fellow African countries while 28.4% were sold to European importers. Kenya shipped another 23.7% worth of goods to Europe with 8.9% arriving in North America. Smaller percentages were sent to Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean (0.3%) then Oceania (0.2%).”

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