Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge on Monday, October 28, faulted the structure of the Kenyan economy where apparent growth on paper was evident but jobs are unavailable.
Njoroge stated that increased spending on infrastructure development over the years did not put money in the pockets of Kenyan households, a report by the Business Daily on Tuesday reported.
The CBK governor, who spoke during the launch of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regional outlook report in Nairobi stressed that the country needed to diversify its development.
"It's true the number of goods produced sold in the country rose. The only problem is that Kenyans can't eat the numbers," Njoroge argued.
The publication also indicated that the number of formal employment opportunities fell in 2018, the same year President Kenyatta's government witnessed its best economic performance.
"If development is driven mainly by infrastructure growth, then little income will trickle down to the common citizen," he observed.
The CBK governor added that everyday citizen did not care about growth in the economy unless they had money to spend on their needs.
Geoffrey Mwau, the budget director at the National Treasury weighed in on the argument and stated, "growth is evident in the economy but the only problem is that it does not reach the disadvantaged."
An economist interviewed by the publication opined that although the 6.3% economic expansion in the country was theoretically supposed to translate to an increased number of jobs and higher pay, this was not happening in Kenya.
However, in July, President Kenyatta injected 100 billion into public-private partnerships when he launched the MasterCard Foundation's Africa Youth Works with the intention of creating employment for graduates.
“When small firms and entrepreneurs access financial services, they obtain the resources they require to grow, expand into new markets and opportunities, create jobs and establish inter-generational wealth,” President Kenyatta stated.
"There has been no improvement in the number of jobs. The employment index from 2017 was neutral," Jibran Qureshi, an economist stated.
Data from the 2019 Economic Survey showed that there was a drop in the number of formal jobs created in 2018 at 78,400 from the 114,400 jobs created in 2017.
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