The Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry, Lee Kinyanjui, has called on Parliament to consider additional budgetary support to enable the Ministry deliver on its ambitious investment, trade and industrial development agenda under the 2026 Budget Policy Statement.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Kinyanjui said that the Ministry is targeting increased private sector participation in national development through the Strategic Development Investment Plan (SDIP).
“The goal of SDIP is to increase the level of private investments to supplement Public Investments from 15 per cent to a target of 20 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2027 and 24 per cent of GDP by 2030,” Kinyanjui.
The CS told the lawmakers that this will be achieved through policy interventions, including the introduction of an Export-Import Development Levy, implementation of the County Licensing (Uniform Procedures) Act 2024 regulations and operationalisation of the National Investment Strategy.
Kinyanjui said that in a bid to strengthen Kenya’s external trade position, the Ministry aims to grow exports by 10 per cent annually through market diversification and improved market access.
“To improve the Country’s current account, the ministry shall focus on promoting high-value diversified exports, aiming for 10 per cent annual export growth through market access and product diversification,” Kinyanjui said.
Presenting the Budget Policy statement before the National Assembly committee on Trade, Kinyanjui said that Kenya is leveraging several bilateral and multilateral agreements to support exporters.
“In January 2026, under China-Kenya Bilateral engagement (Early Harvest Arrangement), the Government of Kenya secured a near-complete zero-duty market access for its exports to China.” Adding that the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is expected to provide relief to key sectors.
“The AGOA extension offers immediate relief to Kenyan exporters, particularly in apparel, textiles and agribusiness sectors that have relied heavily on duty-free access to the U.S. market,” Kinyanjui said.
The CS said that the State Department for Industry has set a target to significantly increase manufacturing output in the medium term with Planned interventions such as construction of County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs), modernisation of industrial infrastructure and development of leather industrial parks.
“The State Department for Industry intends to raise manufacturing contribution to GDP from the current 7.2 per cent to 15 per cent in 2027 and 20 per cent in 2030,” said the CS.
Despite the outlining programmes, Kinyanjui said that the Ministry faces funding gaps that could affect implementation of its mandate.
“We wish to request the committee to consider the shortfalls of Sh13,472.01 million under the recurrent budget and the shortfall of Sh28,833.26 million under the development budget to enable the Ministry deliver on its mandate,” Kinyanjui.
