ICEA Lion Media Briefing

 



ICEA LION Group is a financial services provider offering innovative products and services in Insurance, Pensions, Investments, and Trusts. We deliver our services through four companies in Kenya, ICEA LION General Insurance, ICEA LION Life Assurance, ICEA LION Asset Management, and ICEA LION Trust Company Limited. We also have operations in Tanzania and Uganda. 

East Africa’s pioneering investment management firm, ICEA LION Asset Management, today, 27th January 2025 released the Fourth Quarter 2024 ILAM Consumer Spending Index, with the theme ‘Consumer spending trends stable in the final quarter of 2024 despite anticipated seasonal effects’.


The index is aimed at tracking consumer spending as a gauge of the trends in the real economy. It is based on interviews with approximately 1,200 consumers and over 200 retail businesses in major urban centres across the country.


Speaking at the event, Judd Murigi, Head of Research at ICEA LION Asset Management highlighted the following key trends:


60% of respondents indicated their income levels ended 2024 at the same level as 2023, while one-quarter of individuals surveyed ended the year with lower incomes compared to the beginning of the year. This represented the highest proportion of flat income levels dominating income trends during the year. However, we also note that the proportion of individuals reporting lower incomes declined to the lowest levels witnessed during the year.


The real estate and construction sectors had the largest proportion of respondents who had higher incomes compared to 2023 while the wholesale and retail sector had the biggest proportion of workers whose incomes declined during 2024. This represented the second successive quarter when the trade sector has led to declining income trends


The ILAM Consumer Spending Index rose by 2% in the final quarter of 2024, driven by a slight improvement in both individual spending and retail business sales. It is divided into individual spending sub-index and retail business sub-index. 


In terms of business sectors, the clothing, retail shopping, and food & beverage sectors witnessed higher sales in the final quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year, while the household fittings and accessories sector saw most businesses report lower sales trends between October and December 2024 compared to the prior year



On a quarter-on-quarter basis however, retail stores and food and beverage sector businesses had lower sales trends in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter, a surprise development in view of the festive season when sales in these sectors are expected to pick up.


The majority of retail businesses in Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, and Kisumu reported improved sales, but Nyeri bucked the trend with most retailers experiencing lower sales. Cooking oil, sugar and maize flour are the areas of uncreased sales by retail businesses.


For the second quarter in a row, male spending trends picked up more than female spending trends. The real estate and transport sectors had the biggest proportion of respondents who spent more during the quarter.


In terms of age groups, only the 26 – 35 age group had the highest proportion of individuals spending more, all other age groups reported lower spending trends


In closing, ICEA LION Asset Management CEO – Einstein Kihanda, who is also the immediate former Chairman of the Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (ICIFA) summarised thus: “Consumer spending trends in the final quarter of the years were broadly similar with those in the third quarter”.




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