Trade Openness, Export Quality and Economic Growth Nexus in Kenya
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Date
2024-06
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL STUDIES
Abstract
Economic growth is a major concern for developing and underdeveloped countries. High economic growth creates
opportunities for poverty eradication, employment creation, investment, and wealth creation. While measures to
enhance cross-border trade are regarded as effective in enabling economic growth, studies have yielded mixed results
on their impacts. Kenya's trade openness level has declined, besides the country implementing various policies to
strengthen cross-border trade. Trade openness declined from 57 percent to 27 percent between 1990 and 2020,
underscoring the need to understand its effects on Kenya's economy. The general objective of this research was to
analyze the impact of trade openness on Kenya's economic growth, and the specific objectives were to determine the
impact of trade openness on the economic growth of Kenya and to establish the effects of the quality of exported
products on economic growth in Kenya. Ordinary least squares estimation technique was used to determine the
relationship among variables. The study established that trade openness does not lead to increased economic growth
in Kenya. The research further found that an increase in the quality of exports increases economic growth in Kenya.
The study concluded that Kenya should enhance the quality of its exports and diversify them to improve economic
growth. Further, the paper observed that Kenya should lower the cost of doing business in the country to make her
industries and products competitive, which can help ensure trade openness positively impacts the country's economy.
It was observed that attempts to restrict trade openness are likely to lead Kenya to experience similar measures from
its trading partners
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Citation
Gacheru, W. M., & Gachoki, C. (2024). Trade openness, export quality and economic growth nexus in Kenya. The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies, 12(6). https://doi.org/10.24940/theijhss/2024/v12/i6/hs2405-009