By J, KNA
Business conditions have shown recovery across Kenya’s private sector in September with the Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) signaling an improvement in business performance for the first time in five months, driven by solid expansions in output, new orders and employment.
Christopher Legilisho, an Economist at Standard Bank noted that business conditions expanded in September, implying the start of a recovery after the disruptions that followed protests in the second quarter of 2025.
“New orders and output strengthened as consumer demand improved, despite some firms reporting caution from clients due to still challenging economic conditions. Employment meanwhile increased due to gains from new orders and output,” said Legilisho.
Legilisho explained that business prospects for the upcoming year were still strong, albeit far off from historical trends. This implies that, while conditions for some firms have been improving, most still experience the business environment as challenging.
He said that driving the improvement in business conditions was a renewed expansion in activity, which in turn was strongly related to rising sales and a stabilising economy.
Legilisho highlighted that out of the firms surveyed, roughly a third (33 percent) noted that their output had grown during September, compared to 23 percent that recorded a decline.
“Some businesses reportedly benefitted from effective marketing and investment into products and services. That said, some areas experienced weakness, especially in the construction industry where output fell sharply,” said Legilisho.
On sales intakes, he said that the survey data also signaled a renewed upturn in September. New business growth was solid, having rebounded after four months of consecutive downturns.
He highlighted that this recovery encouraged firms to hire new staff, leading to a rise in employment that was the quickest recorded since May 2023. With staff capacity up, firms managed to deplete their backlogs for the fourth month running.