Kenya has been ranked at position 115 out of 152 in the latest Competitive Industrial Performance Index Report, which benchmarks the ability of countries to produce and export manufactured goods competitively.
Kenya was ranked lower than Egypt and South Africa at position 64 and 52 respectively, towered East African counterparts with Tanzania ranked 123 and Uganda at position 128.
The Competitive Industrial Performance Index Report 2020 benchmarked the ability of countries to produce and export manufactured goods competitively. It provides a yardstick against which Kenya can compare its manufacturing competitiveness on a global level.
The report, which ranks China second, says the second largest economy is very strong in manufacturing due to the use of high technology that is applied by 30.6% of its manufacturers whereas only 9.3% are resource-based manufacturers.
Comparatively, Kenya’s manufacturing sector export structure is dependent on resource-based manufacturers at 42.9% with high tech manufactures only accounting to 5.5%.
Commenting on the report, Industrialization Principal Secretary Dr. Francis Owino highlighted the importance of driving the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector, noting the need to improve our overall performance to boost trade and investment.
He said: “This report shows Kenya is at position 115 out of 152. This is far from our expectations and calls for urgent need to collaborate to achieve faster growth in the sector. We will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders to achieve targets in the policy making formula to get Kenya in the global competitiveness map.”
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers says though Kenya continues to progress in the Ease of doing Business Index, there is a need to look into our ability to sustainably produce goods and services.
“We must also look at our ability to produce goods for which there is a market at a price and quality that their market is willing to pay for,” said the Kenya Association of Manufacturers Chairman Mucai Kunyiha.
