Kenya’s economy grew 5.9 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of this year, compared to 4.3 per cent growth in the same quarter of 2022, official data showed on Friday.

At the time, the country’s inflation slowed slightly to 6.6 per cent year on year in December, down from 6.8 per cent in November, the statistics office said on Friday.

On a month-on-month basis inflation was 0.4 per cent, compared to 0.2 per cent in November, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said in a report.

Transport, housing and utilities, and food were major contributors to the East African nation’s year-on-year inflation, the KNBS said.

“This growth was mainly supported by a rebound in agricultural activities that had contracted in 2022,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said in a report.

Thanks to favourable weather conditions in the quarter, agriculture, forestry and fishing grew by 6.7 per cent compared to a contraction of 1.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2022, the KNBS said.

The East African country’s economy has been among the fastest-growing on the continent in recent years, but a heavy debt load and a weakening currency have emerged as potential problems.

• A Reuters report