According to the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce, most business owners anticipate a drop in the price of raw materials during the second half of the year once supply channels improve.

In the chamber’s Quarter Two Business Barometer Report for July 2024, 52% of businesses expected a drop in primary input prices compared to quarter two, with 35% not sure.

The report, which covered sole proprietors such as Boda Boda operators to multinational enterprises, further stated that the education and agriculture sectors are most optimistic about the drop in the primary input cost.

“Similar to Q2, problems that businesses expected to affect performance majorly were limited financial resources at 32%, unfavourable regulations at 22%, and supply chain instability at 22%,” reads the report in part

In sharp contrast, manufacturing was the least optimistic sector on that metric, falling among the 14% that had no such expectation for price drop.

Looking forward, many sectors are optimistic about revenue growth in Q3, with mining, agriculture, education and professional services most optimistic.

This was mainly attributed to an anticipated customer demand while those not expecting revenue growth cited a decline in anticipated customer demand as the major reason.

All sectors had a majorly positive outlook for staff size growth in Q3 with retail & wholesale, ICT, healthcare and hospitality & tourism being the most pessimistic.

Government increases Road Maintenance Levy 39% to Sh. 25 per litre of fuel

This, according to KNCCI calls for more support to the struggling yet crucial sector. Other contributing factors to the challenge of limited financial resources were high interest rates at 31% while limited access to credit at 30%

The unfavourable regulatory environment challenge was mainly attributed to unfavourable taxes and levies at 44% according to respondents.

Data from the Central Bank of Kenya has it that SMEs make up 98% of all businesses in Kenya. They noted that the country has about 1.5 million MSMEs that are formally registered, and over 5 million more that are not registered but carry on various businesses.

The entities create about 30% of jobs annually. The enumerators were an addition to the data collection of the 2024 Q2 Barometer Survey that only utilized an online survey.