Shilling value falls to Sh160 against USD for the first time

Shilling value falls to Sh160 against USD for the first time
Should Kenya show success in reducing its’ vulnerabilities, or should the global environment become more constructive for emerging markets, we could well see the shilling appreciate against the dollar

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 16 – The Kenyan shilling is continuing to lose its value against the American dollar even after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) last year increased the base rate by 200 basis points to 12.5 percentage points to stabilise the currency.

Today, the CBK figure shows that one greenback is equivalent to Sh160.18, up from Sh159.85 on January 12, 2024.

The local unit has been under immense pressure due to high demand for the dollar coupled with short supply.

CBK Governor Kamau Thugge, during the previous Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), promised to implement stronger measures to protect the local unit if the need arose.

“And if it becomes very necessary, if the exchange rate does not stabilize as we expect then we will take stronger actions to ensure that the exchange rate is stabilized.”