CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge has assured members of the National Assembly that the country has adequate foreign exchange.
Patrick Njoroge, who spoke on Monday during the induction workshop of the 349 legislators, said unnamed rogue elements in the currency market and some commercial banks had contributed to the recent weakening of the shilling against the dollar.
Dr Njoroge likened their scheme to Kenya’s biggest corruption scandal, the “Goldenberg” affair, in which billions of shillings of public funds were stolen in a bogus gold and diamond export scheme.
He attributed the breach of the law to the political period saying everything was politics however, now that the season is over, sanity has returned.
Data from the CBK shows Kenya’s foreign currency reserves held by CBK increased to 7,372 billion dollars (equivalent to 4.20 months of imports) as of September 15, from 7.346 billion dollars as of September 8 (which was equivalent to 4.19 months of imports).
Dr Njoroge further urged the members of the National Assembly to play an active role and deter debt accumulation in the country.
“As Kenyans, we all need to add our voices in addressing the issues affecting our economy and rally around the best solutions that we can offer to revive our economic state,” Patrick Njoroge
According to Treasury, as of June 2022, Kenya’s debt stood at Sh8.6 trillion. Public and publicly guaranteed external debt is at Sh4.1 trillion, with domestic debt standing at Sh3.9 trillion.
Commercial loans account for about 30 per cent of external loans, while bilateral loans take up 30 per cent.
Njoroge disclosed that the current account balance shows a deficit of about 5.5 per cent of the GDP, and as projected, it’s likely to go higher in the coming months before it stabilizes.
“Inflation has become endemic in the world economy; it’s not only a Kenyan problem. The global market has significant variations in commodity prices that end up affecting our pricing,” CBK governor.
