Kenya’s foreign currency reserves fell to $7.575 billion last week from $7.664 billion the previous week, after three weeks of accelerating, as per data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
Despite the decline, the foreign reserves are sufficient to cover 4.63 months of imports and they meet CBK’s statutory requirement of at least 4 months of import cover.
The Kenya shilling appreciated against major currencies, exchanging at KSh106.98 per US dollar on May 6 compared to KSh107.84 per US dollar on April 29.
Kenya’s average interbank rate, which is the rate of interest charged on short-term loans between banks, fell to 4.07% on 6th May from 5.37% a week earlier. However, the average value of interbank transactions rose to KSh7.982 billion from KSh7.380 billion the previous week.
In the bond market, the treasury bills auction was oversubscribed at KSh31.4 billion compared to the KSh24 billion on offer, representing a 31% oversubscription.
