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Economic output was calculated to be 4.76 trillion shillings ($53.3bn) in 2013 after rebasing, up from 3.8 trillion shillings ($42.6bn), Minister for Devolution and Planning, Anne Waiguru, told a news conference on Tuesday.
Growth in 2013 was calculated to have been 5.7% after rebasing, up from the previous estimate of 4.7%.
The rebasing exercise means debt levels fall as a proportion of GDP, a closely watched ratio.
This could give the government some leeway for more borrowing to help
finance its plans to build new transport links and repair creaking
infrastructure.
But revising the estimated size of GDP does not change Kenya's ability to repay additional loans nor does it mean it has more income to spend on development in a nation where many live in villages connected by dirt roads and without power.
Kenya's GDP per capita is US$1,246 which is above World Bank's benchmark of US$1,036. #Rebasing
— Anne Waiguru (@AnneWaiguru) September 30, 2014"Debt service capacity and export growth, neither of which are expected to be substantially revised, are much more important when it comes to being able to take on more debt," Razia Khan, Africa economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said ahead of Tuesday's announcement.
Congratulations #Kenya - we had always thought you were a middle y country
— Razia Khan (@raziakkhan) September 30, 2014Kenya's move follows the far more dramatic rebasing earlier this year of Nigeria's economy. It changed the base year from 1990 to 2010 and, as a result, vaulted above South Africa to become Africa's biggest economy.
Kenya's rebasing was less pronounced because the gap with 2001 and the new base year of 2009 was much shorter. But it still meant Kenya rises from 12th to 9th, above Ghana, in Africa's GDP rankings, based on a World Bank table for 2013.
The World Bank says that Kenya's economy is 25% bigger than earlier estimated. Thus Kenya attained lower middle-income status in 2012.
— Oliver Mathenge™ (@OliverMathenge) September 30, 2014
