NAIROBI, Kenya — “Intermediate Micro & Macro Economics,” a new book by Dr Samwel Oresi of the Presbyterian University of East Africa (PUEA), has revealed the current status of Kenya’s economy.
Speaking after presiding over the launch of the book launch at a Nairobi hotel, Dr Oresi observed that the Kenyan economy is not doing very well at the moment.
“So, some of the highlighted aspects in the book are the ones to show the problems that we are having as a country and how to solve them. So, you will find things like inflation, unemployment, agriculture, and industry covered in the book,” Oresi said.
How Kenya can salvage itself from poverty
Kenya is a developing country, and Dr Oresi observed that Kenya, the East African economic hub, needs to learn to get out of its current poverty.
“We want to see how we can move from where we are to where we want to be. We want to be industrialised; how do we get there? So, this is what you will need to learn from this book. It has all the ways and means of reaching where we want to be,” Dr Oresi, an economist by profession, said.
According to Dr Oresi, who also adds up as the head of the business department at the institution, most of the examples given in his 450-page book are of the developing world, where Kenya is one of the developing countries.
“The book is meant to help students, scholars, and even professionals in their undertakings, but it is simplified in a way that even those not in the field of economics can gain from it. So, I hope that once the book gets into the market, it will be able to help all and sundry,” he explained.
What ADB knows about the Kenyan economy
The African Development Bank (ADB) 2023 Kenya Economic Outlook Report shows that the global financial architecture challenges Kenya’s ability to meet its financing gap.
For instance, Kenya needs 12 billion US dollars annually by 2030 and 2 billion US dollars annually by 2063 to close its financing gap to fast-track structural transformation.
Meanwhile, Y News understands that the newly launched book is Dr. Oresi’s ninth, but there are five published books.
“This is an economics book at an advanced level, which we call intermediate economics, which is just about the principles of economics. The book is essentially modified and geared to simplifying or making economics easier to read and understand,” Dr Oresi said.
As a lecturer of economics and considerably on labour economics, the celebrated academician noted that he is encouraged because this is what he does daily.
“I teach. And most people say that economics is a hard subject, so I have always wanted to make it simpler and interesting for people to understand,” said the don.
Why Intermediate Micro & Macro Economics
Back to the book’s title, he simplified it in layman’s language, saying:
“We shall say that micro is like a branch, and macro is the whole key. So, micro is the branch of economics, but macro deals with the whole of economics. For example, as an individual, for instance, when you are broke, we may call you micro because we are dealing with one entity, but when all of us are broke, we shall say that is inflation, which is macro now,” explained the senior lecturer.
Dr Oresi revealed that he has research methods, human resources, labour economics, the basics of economics, and question-and-answer books that help students.
“Right now, copies of the new book can be found on e-books and Amazon, but we are yet to identify where you can get the physical books. However, we can always provide them to you through the addresses given,” said Dr Oresi.
He has published about 300 book copies, each costing Sh 1500.
