By Moses Adongo
Kenya’s Capital, Nairobi, has been ranked the sixth wealthiest city in Africa with a total worth of Sh5.4 trillion.
Despite maintaining its stature as the most affluent in East Africa, Nairobi ranked after Durban, Cape Town, Cairo, Lagos and Johannesburg in a report that was released by New World Wealth and AfrAsia Bank from Mauritius.
The study pointed out to financial and retail services, tourism, fast-moving consumer goods, telecoms, real estate and construction as the main factors that lifted Nairobi’s wealth growth.
The report however named Nairobi the most expensive city with a prime piece of land selling at Sh190,000 for a square meter, just Ksh20,000 more a property space in Mombasa. This has however not discouraged financial injection by the growing billionaire investors who consider storing their property in local investment.
The same report ranked Kenya the fifth most prosperous country in Africa with a total wealth of Ksh10.5 trillion, coming after South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Morocco who registered a whole wealth of Sh72 trillion, Sh33 trillion, Sh25 trillion and Sh12 trillion respectively.
It revealed that the total wealth meant a sum of all private wealth held by all individuals living in each country, including property, cash, equities, and business interests, without any liabilities. The report also estimates net assets of an average African individual at about Sh203,000 against a global average of Sh2.8 million.
The study attributed Kenya’s wealth growth to its low income and company tax rates besides other factors such as the freedom and independence of the media. It also points out to Kenya’s open-ended policy which allows capital inflows and property ownership for the increasing African billionaire. Kenya’s relaxed visa regulations appear to have endeared investors from all over the globe setting the trend for increasing investor traction. The report, however, points at the prolonged 2017 general election to have slowed down the trend of growing wealth accumulation.
With everything else now getting back to almost normalcy, the study tips Kenya the most promising emerging market in Africa for especially private banking.
