Kenyan investors’ dollar deposits hit $8.6bn by September
The rise in foreign currency deposits by both firms and households has coincided with the weakening of the Kenya shilling over the past year, with the local unit having shed more than 25 percent of its value against the dollar last year. PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK
Kenyan corporates and rich investors raised the dollar share of their deposits in banks to 70 percent as of September 2023, amid a biting shortage that has disrupted purchases of critical raw materials from the global market.
New Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows that the sum of foreign currency deposits held by firms hit Ksh973 billion ($6 billion) at the end of the third quarter of 2023, compared with Ksh418 billion ($2.6 billion) in hard currency deposits by households.
