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Recalculating Kenya’s GDP

Nic Cheeseman writes about the new GDP numbers in Kenya. They are not ready yet, viagra and the jump in GDP will not be as big as they were in Nigeria or Ghana. As in Nigeria and Ghana the new numbers will not make anyone any richer.

In the short run there are two certain effects:

1) Less leverage in getting concessional loans and grants from the Bretton Woods institutions

2) Bigger explanation problem to poor citizens, story as it becomes even more clear that income is unequally distributed.

For Kenya the comparison with its neighbors is particularly striking. Nic Cheeseman reports that according to the latest numbers the absolute poverty headcount is somewhere between 30 and 40 percent in Kenya, while:

Despite much lower levels of GDP, Tanzania (28 per cent) and Uganda (24 per cent) have performed much better when it comes to the proportion of their citizens that live in poverty.

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