Kenya’s economic growth accelerated to 5.3% year-on-year in Q1 2026, up from 4% in the previous quarter, marking the fastest expansion since the final quarter of 2024. The upturn was broad-based across all sectors, with a particularly strong rebound in agriculture. Agricultural output increased by 4.9%, reversing a 1.3% contraction in Q4, supported by improved weather conditions. Within agriculture, tea production rose 3.1%, cane deliveries 6.2%, milk deliveries to processors 2.2%, and cut flower exports 4.3%, more than offsetting a decline in coffee production.
Other major contributors to growth included accommodation and food service activities (14.7%), mining and quarrying (9.1%), construction (6.6%), financial and insurance activities (6.3%), and information and communication (5.0%). On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP increased by 1.3% in Q1, matching the pace recorded in Q4.
