Kenya imports over 70 percent of the pharmaceuticals it consumes and more than 95 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients, almost all from India and China. The obvious response should have...
By
Jaindi Kisero
Columnist
More than 50 containers of pharmaceutical raw materials are stranded at Mombasa and the Nairobi inland depot, and manufacturers are bleeding roughly Sh1 million a day in demurrage.
The cause is not a missing law but a missing signature: until the Ministry of Health issues its approval and the new tax framework in the Finance Act 2026 is gazetted, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) keeps charging the standard 16 percent VAT on these imports.
The economics behind Kenya’s pharmaceutical industry are shaping which medicines reach patients.
Despite constraints, Kenya remains the most advanced pharmaceutical manufacturer in East Africa and the third-largest exporter of…
This fall could be attributed to several factors, including declining global input costs for pharmaceutical raw materials and…
Kenya's heavy reliance on imported medicines contributes to high drug prices and limits access to affordable healthcare.
Kenya's heavy reliance on imported medicines contributes to high drug prices and limits access to affordable healthcare.
When the law treats a fully built import more favourably than a raw component destined for domestic manufacturing, something has…
