Nairobi — Kenya's wealthy pivoted away from international investments last year, seeking safer investment havens in the country as the world faced economic turmoil, a new survey shows.
This saw the country's rich fare better than the wealthy anywhere else in the world, recording the slowest drop in wealth.
According to the Knight Frank 2023 attitudes survey, Kenyan High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI's) overseas holdings fell to 11 percent in 2022 from 28 per cent in 2021.
This saw Kenyan HNWIs record an overall drop of 5 percent in wealth compared to a global average of 10 per cent.
Speaking during the unveiling of the survey, Knight Frank Kenya CEO Mark Dunford noted that the majority of wealthy Kenyans preferred to move their investments back to the country from overseas post-Covid as the economy stabilized.
"During the Covid-19 period in 2020 and 2021 most wealthy individuals sought secondary citizenships so as to invest in other economies but in 2022 we saw them retreating back to Kenya as the economy stabilized," he said.
Globally, the world's Ultra-High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs) saw their fortunes slashed by 10 per cent last year attributed to post-pandemic property price falls, soaring energy prices, falling stock markets, and surging inflation and interest rates.
The wealthy in Europe were by far the hardest hit, due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, suffering a fall of 17.3 per cent in their fortunes.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"Nowhere in the world was immune from last year's inflationary trends, or geopolitical risks. However, with the wealthy in Kenya and Africa less exposed to overseas property holdings and equity markets than HNWIs globally, their assets proved more resilient to the global disruption," said Liam Bailey, Global Head of Research and Editor-in-Chief of The Wealth Report at Knight Frank.
Further, the survey noted that Kenyan HNWIs favourite options for second home purchasing also shifted, moving closer home.
Kenya remained the most popular choice, named as one of the top five locations by 60 per cent of HNWIs, followed by the UK by 50 per cent and the US by 40 per cent.
Canada also increased in popularity, with 25 percent of the HNWIs including it in their top 5 locations.
The survey revealed that European locations such as Sweden, Denmark, and Monaco disappeared from Kenyan HNWI's top choices, while Egypt and Tanzania emerged as new entrants.
In the general pivot away from international exposure and towards investment in Kenya and Africa, the survey notes that Kenya's HNWIs are also the most optimistic in the world, with 50 per cent expecting their wealth to increase by more than 10 percent in 2023.
This compares with just 21 percent of global HNWIs expecting rises of the same level.
