Kenya’s exports of goods to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) declined by 4.65 per cent or Ksh1.6 billion ($15.9 million) in 2017. The exports, mainly textile items, fell from Ksh34.4 billion ($343.3 million) in 2016 to Ksh32.8 billion ($327.3 million) last year, Kenyan media reports said quoting Economic Survey released last week.
Capital investment too dropped last year by 14.1 per cent. “The value of exports reduced for a second consecutive year… with capital investment reducing to Ksh14.2 billion ($141.7 million) in 2017,” the Survey said.
AGOA exports constituted 60 per cent of all Kenyan goods shipped to the US in 2017. Textile and apparel products continue to dominate Kenyan exports under the AGOA since it was enacted in 2000.
AGOA was last extended in June 2015 for ten years till 2025, including third-country fabric provisions.
