The Kenya Shilling (KES) was stable against the US dollar and other major currencies for the week ending October 3. On Thursday, the local currency exchanged at Ksh 129.19 per dollar compared to Ksh129.19 per dollar on September 26.
The Shilling exchanged at 172.23 against the sterling on October 3 compared to Ksh 172.23 on September 25.
During the same period, the Shilling strengthened marginally against the Euro, closing the week at 143.59 from 143.59 the previous week.
Kenya’s usable foreign exchange reserves increased slightly to US$8,186 million, adequate to cover 4.2 months of import cover, from US$8,027 million the previous week.
The average inter-bank rate stood at 12.71% on October 3, compared to 12.70% on September 26. Commercial banks’ excess reserves above 4.25% cash reserves requirement stood at Ksh 21.0 billion.
The Treasury bill auction of October 3 received bids totaling KSh 54.0 billion against an advertised amount of KSh 24.0 billion, representing a performance of 224.8 percent.,” according to data by the Central Bank of Kenya.
Additionally, interest rates on treasury bills declined. The average rate for the 91-day, 192-day, and 364-day papers was 15.69%, 16.5%, and 16.7%, respectively, on October 3 compared to 15.72, 16.59%, and 16.8% in the previous week.
Bond turnover in the domestic secondary market decreased by 8.3% during the week ending October 3 to Ksh 27,915 million from Ksh 30,443 million on September 26.
This comes after Kenya’s year-over-year inflation declined to 3.6% in September from 4.4% in August this year. Food inflation decreased to 5.1% from 5.3% in August, attributed to a decline in the prices of vegetables.
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) declined to 4.6% in the second quarter of 2024 from 5.6% in the corresponding period last year. The slowdown was registered across different sectors of the economy except health, wholesale, manufacturing, and professional services.
