According to a survey of companies operating on the continent, Kenya is the second most preferred export destination in Africa, indicating the country’s growing consumer power as a result of rising population and incomes.
According to the most recent Pan-African private sector trade and investment committee (PAFTRAC) report, African-based companies exported goods and services to Nigeria at a rate of 25.96 percent, Kenya at a rate of 23.89 percent, and South Africa at a rate of 22.12 percent.
Kenya’s performance was aided by improved infrastructure, such as the standard gauge railway (SGR) that connects Mombasa and Naivasha.
According to the report, the inclusion of South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya among the top trading nations is due in part to the importance of their international ports in regional trade.
However, one of the challenges with the SGR identified by the private sector players polled was that the railway did not cross the country’s borders.
According to SGR research, where new railways are built, it is often difficult to secure funding for cross-border transportation infrastructure. Kenya’s new standard gauge railway (SGR), for example, connects Mombasa and Nairobi but not yet Nairobi and Kampala which still poses a challenge to transnational trade between the two Countries.
