Stock market wipes out Kenyan pensioners’ $350m in just three months
Kenyan pensioners protest in Nairobi last November. Pension funds have been heavily exposed to equities leading to massive losses. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Kenyan retirees lost over Ksh35 billion ($350 million) to falling stock prices and soaring inflation as the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the country’s economy in the past three months.
A survey conducted by Zamara Consulting Actuaries covering 415 pension schemes with a total of Ksh852.4 billion ($8.52 billion) in assets under management shows that the returns on pensioners’ investments in the three months to March 31 dropped, prompting a shift from equities to bonds.
