KENYA – The Cabinet Secretary for Trade and Industry Rebecca Miano has revealed four new private zones have been gazetted in the past 6 months, set to inject a capital investment of KES 13.8 billion (US$106.5 million) and create 3,143 jobs.
The minister revealed that 17 new enterprises have joined the Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) program in the last six months, constituting the four new zones gazetted.
CS Miano lauded the development, saying it would help achieve the government’s foreign investment targets.
The Cabinet Secretary said, “With this trajectory, we can be certain that my ministry’s target of attracting investments worth US$10 billion (KES1.3 trillion) in the next five years and 15 per cent growth for manufacturing by 2025 and 30 per cent by the year 2030 is nigh.”
She also revealed that the government will focus especially on industrial parks and other types of economic zones, with the objective of diversifying exports and enhancing market access for goods and services from SMEs.
The government is expected to allocate KES 4.5 billion (US$34.8 million) to establish industrial parks at the county level and KES 1.9 billion (US$14.6 million) to support SMEs’ access to finance.
CS Miano also reiterated the government’s commitment to enhancing market access for Kenyan goods in the international market, especially the US, through the recently extended African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
The Cabinet secretary said, “We are optimistic, especially now that the US Congress has given the green light on the possibility of extending the framework by 16 years. This assures that our EPZ firms will continue enjoying the quota-free duty-free market access to the US market.”
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Kenya’s total merchandise trade amounted to KES 3.6 trillion (US$27.8 billion) in 2023, a 7.6% growth from the previous year. Export earnings also increased by 15.4% during the same period. The national trade balance narrowed to a deficit of KES 1.604 trillion (US$12.4 billion).
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