KNBS to conduct 2023 foreign investment survey

Nakuru,

Friday, November 10, 2023

KNA by Esther Mwangi

 The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has partnered with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to conduct the 2023 Foreign Investment Survey (FIS), which seeks to obtain transactional and stock data of enterprise capital, trade, services, employment, and perception of the business environment to help guide policy response to private capital flows.

The KNBS Director in Charge of Micro-Economics Statistics Mr Collins Omondi said the FIS survey which kicks off next month will provide data for companies that have invested in Kenya between January 2021 and December 2022.

  Omondi explained that the survey will seek to measure and monitor national statistics on stocks and flows of inward and outward foreign investments during the calendar years of 2021 and 2022.

 While noting that the event will be the 7th exercise since the inauguration of the survey in 2010, the Director said the exercise will be conducted for 40 days and was targeting 1,150 firms that deal with foreign assets and liabilities.

  Omondi disclosed that the survey will also capture information on investor perceptions on the business environment in Kenya that might affect decision-making for investment and business activity.

 Speaking in Nakuru after a training program for over 200 statisticians who will conduct the exercise, the Director indicated that the survey will be administered to sampled enterprises in Kenya with international transactions.

 “The government and other stakeholders need to be updated on the flows and stocks of Kenya’s foreign assets and liabilities and equity shares to help update our balance of payment statistics,” Omondi explained.

 The objective of the study according to Omondi is to provide necessary information to guide policy response to private capital flows, against an ever-increasing competition where some neighbouring countries have been receiving more of the foreign firms.

 He added that the data to be gathered will help the Kenyan government to assess investors’ perception on the business climate with a view to identifying possible policies to be introduced.

 The other objective, the Director said, will be to ensure compliance with international standards in data monitoring and presentation that could also be used by international institutions and researchers.

 The findings of the study are expected to have considerable advantages to stakeholders both in government and private sectors, which include improved quality of balance of payments statistics that meet international standards.

  Omondi further said that the study will provide data for compilation of the international investment position (IIP) in addition to generating information on the direction of foreign direct investments and other investments and investor perception of investment climate in Kenya.

 A representative from Central Bank of Kenya’s Department of Research Dr. Daniel Amanda said the State depends significantly on the survey to formulate monetary policies.

 He noted that through the study, policy makers will be able to identify constraints facing foreign investors, adding that the survey was also aimed at improving the quality and updating national statistics on stocks and flows of foreign capital as well as international trade.

 Amanda explained that the objectives of Foreign Investment Surveys included to collect comprehensive information on the stocks and flows of inward and outward foreign capital, to improve the quality of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Statistics, and to collect data and information on foreign investment relationships for compiling Foreign Affiliates Trade Statistics (FATS) and international trade in services statistics.

 He said the state needed accurate data in formulating policies that will be friendly to foreign investments.

 KNBS’ External Sector Statistics Section representative Gladys Baluku explained that previous surveys had established the United States of America was the leading in foreign investments in the country, followed by the European Union and China in the second and third positions respectively.

 She assured that information provided by individual enterprises will be treated as confidential and used for statistical purposes.

 Other key stakeholders in the FIS survey include Kenya Investment Authority, Capital Markets Authority (CMA), Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA), the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) and Kenya Association Manufacturers (KAM).

Courtesy; KNA