The Kenya Shilling remained stable against major international and regional currencies during the week ending October 24. According to the weekly bulletin from Central Bank of Kenya, it exchanged at Sh 103.51 per US$ on October 24, compared to Sh 103.71 on October 17.
The CBK usable foreign exchange reserves remained adequate at US$ 8,944 million (5.59 months of import cover) as of October 24. This meets the CBK’s statutory requirement to maintain at least 4 months of import cover, and the EAC region’s convergence criteria of 4.5 months of import cover.
Remittance inflows amounted to US$ 214.7 million in September 2019 compared to US$ 214.3 million recorded in August. The cumulative inflows in the 12-months to September 2019 increased to US$ 2,786 million compared to US$ 2,579 million in September 2018, reflecting a growth of 8.0 per cent.
In the Equity Market, The NASI, NSE 20 and NSE 25 share price indices increased by 1.2 per cent, 1.1 per cent, and 2.0 per cent, respectively, during the week ending October 24. Market capitalization increased by 2.4 per cent following the listing of 793.8 million NCBA shares on October 22.
Trading activity in the domestic secondary bond market decreased by 55.4 per cent during the week ending October 24. In the international market, yields on Kenya’s 7-year, 10-year (2024), 12-year and 30-year Eurobonds declined by 2.4, 3.5, 15.7 and 0.4 basis points, respectively.
During the week, Safaricom announced that the Managing Director of Diageo Continental Europe Mr Peter Ndegwa will be joining the telco as the new CEO effective 1st April 2020. Its founding CEO Michael Joseph will take over as the Chairman of the board from long-serving Chairman Nicholas Ng’ang’a who is retiring.
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