PrideInn Paradise Beach Hotel in Mombasa is deserted on March 31, 2020, as tourists stay away from social places due to coronavirus fears. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP It was a vibrant economy projected to grow by at least six per cent.
The country was making the final steps in joining the league of oil producers. The heavy infrastructure spending was starting to yield the first dividends.
The tourism industry was just emerging out of a prolonged lull, having been battered by the terrorism nightmare since Kenya started its military action to contain Al-Shabaab extremists’ further expansion in the region.
Diaspora remittances were at an all-time high. The road to becoming a middle-income economy had become clearer.
The Big Four agenda was just taking shape and the political landscape had been calmed by the Handshake. Then Covid-19 struck.
In just 50 days, Kenya’s economy has come tumbling downhill from one of the fastest-growing on the continent to a near standstill.
Companies that had started the year with ambitious targets are now reporting some of the worst sales in a decade.
Consumers have jumped into survival mode, only spending on essentials. Banks are restructuring loans and cautiously approving new ones.
Hotels are staring at a rare emptiness that has not been witnessed in the country for a long time. Most have scaled down their operations and have sent thousands of employees home.
PAY CUTS
The horticulture and aviation sectors, which earn the country billions of shillings in foreign exchange, are bleeding billions of shillings in losses every passing day. Bars and social places remain shut down.The tourism industry has received the biggest punishment from the pandemic. With no tourists coming in and domestic travel halted, players in the sector are hurting in silence as the country focuses on the most important fight — flattening the curve of infections.Event planners and players in the entertainment industry have been confined to online shows. Private schools are on the brink of going burst with no new income.But it is the unprecedented pay cuts for salaried employees that have now been confined to working from home that tell the story of just how far the virus will hurt the economy.The lucky ones have got away with salary cuts. The not-so-lucky ones have been sent home without pay until the Covid-19 cloud lifts.Initial projections cut the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth by half to three per cent. But as things started […]
