The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) undertakes a Market Perceptions Survey, prior to every Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting to obtain perceptions of banks and non-bank private sector firms on selected economic indicators including inflation, economic growth, demand for credit, growth in credit to private sector and exchange rate.
The highlights of the March 2021 Market Perceptions Survey include:
- Sustained optimism in the country’s economic prospects for the next 12 months largely attributed to the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine;
- Expectations of improved economic activity in March and April as the economy recovers from the impact of the virus and containment measures;
- Upward revision of economic growth expectations for 2021 relative to the previous survey, largely due to expected rebound in all sectors that had been affected by COVID -19 in 2020;
- Mixed expectations by different sectors on employment in 2021 relative to 2020, largely due to the expected varying pace of post-COVID-19 recovery;
- Expectations of an increase in private sector credit growth in 2021 by banks largely due to pick-up in economic activity; and
- Inflation expectations remain anchored due to low food prices.
Read the full report here…