Sunday, November 10, 2024 – President William Ruto’s Economic Advisor David Ndii has defended his comparison of Kenya to Bangladesh following an uproar from Kenyans.
In a statement, Ndii explained
why he had stated that Kenya was economically competing with the likes of
Vietnam and Bangladesh.
According to Ndii, Kenya and
Bangladesh wanted to grow their economies in the 90s based on their exports.
At the time, Ndii indicated that
Kenya had a better Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita.
However, down the line,
Bangladesh overtook Kenya given the revenue that the Asian country earns from
its exports.
"In 1990, when I was a
rookie economist at the World Bank, Kenya, and Bangladesh embarked on
“export-led growth”. Both were exporting 2 billion US dollars. Our GDP pc
(PPP$) was 70 per cent higher," he stated.
"Today Bangladesh exports
60 billion USD while Kenya exports 13 Billion USD. Bangladesh's GDP per capita
is 40% higher. We are not competing, we’ve been leapfrogged by
Bangladesh."
Ndii had elicited debate on X
when he claimed that Kenya was competing with Bangladesh.
In response to the remarks, some
online users wondered why the focus was shifting from Singapore, which Ruto is so obsessed with, to Bangladesh.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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