Customs revenue grow to Ksh 90B in September

In September 2026, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) reported that customs revenue had grown to Ksh 90.1 billion, surpassing the monthly projection of Ksh 89.2 billion. This marked a performance rate of 101.1%, representing a Ksh 965 million increase or a 5.8% rise from the Ksh 85.146 billion collected in the previous September.

KRA attributed the strong performance to robust growth in non-oil revenue collections, which reached Ksh 57.2 billion, exceeding the Ksh 55.4 billion target by Ksh 1.8 billion. The non-oil revenue growth was driven by a 25.6% increase in the overall value of imports, with bulk cargo expanding by 49.2%, primarily due to higher imports of fertilizers, iron and steel, palm oil and its fractions, rice, and other commodities.

Additionally, the volume of imported Motor Vehicles and Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) handled for containerized cargo increased by 8.1% and 8.2% respectively. KRA credited technology deployment for facilitating legitimate trade, preventing revenue leaks, and enhancing compliance. The authority is also implementing reforms aimed at making Customs operations more efficient, transparent, and predictable for traders, including the introduction of Advance Cargo Declaration (ACD) and increased use of data to strengthen cargo risk management, improve customs declaration processing, and identify high-risk consignments.