DAVOS-Kenya's economic growth to fall to 3 pct in 2009 - PM

By Emma Thomasson

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Kenya's economic growth will slow to 3 percent in 2009 as tourism and agriculture are hit by the global recession, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Thursday.

"We are feeling the pinch of the financial crisis in Kenya," Odinga told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos.

"Growth will not be more than 3 percent, which is minimal with the fact that in 2007 the economy grew by 7 percent.

"Our tourism is down, our exports, particularly flowers and fruits have also gone down. Also remittances from the Kenyan diaspora have gone down," he said. "We are trying to take some measures to protect ourselves against this."

Kenya's economy may have grown by a slower-than-expected 3.5-4.0 percent in 2008 after 7 percent in 2007, a senior government official said earlier this month. Growth was dragged down by a bloody post-election crisis at the start of the year.

The violence in east Africa's biggest economy shattered its reputation as a beacon of stability in the region, scared away tourists, prevented farmers from planting crops and dented economic activity in general.

Peace was restored with the formation of a coalition government between President Mwai Kibaki and Odinga's former opposition party.

Speaking at the meeting of world leaders and business executives dominated by the global financial crisis, Odinga said Africa wanted more say in trying to fix the system.

"In a globalised world, the future of Africa is so intertwined with the rest of the world. Therefore any meeting that is talking about global developments is meaningless unless the African agenda is also included," he said.

The global financial crisis has forced Kenya to shelve plans to raise $500 million for infrastructure development through a debut sovereign bond and has pushed Kenya's balance of payments surplus down 84 percent to $74 million in the year to October.

(Editing by Erica Billingham)