Kenya’s current account deficit, which measures a country’s trade and financial flows with other nations, widened to 5.4% of GDP in the 12 months to June from 5.2% in the same period last year, an indication of the negative impact of the covid crisis on Kenya’s economy.
The Central Bank of Kenya said, “The higher deficit was attributed to lower service receipts, which more than offset the increased receipts from exports and remittances.”
Foreign currency reserves held at the Central Bank fell to $9.341 billion as of July 29 down from $9.371 billion as of July 22 2021.
Commercial banks’ excess reserves, which are cash holdings physically held by the banks, stood at KSh 16.2 billion last week down from KSh 22.4 billion the previous week.
According to CBK’s weekly bulletin, the average rate of interest charged on short-term loans made between Kenyan banks increased to 3.32% on July 29 from 3.05% on July 22. The average value of interbank transactions during the week decreased to KSh 4.1 billion from KSh 4.6 billion the previous week.
