under pressure

Kenya: Shilling on track to its worst year since 2008

By Harry Clynch

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Posted on April 3, 2023 16:07

© Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge displays some of the new look Kenyan currency notes on June 3, 2019.(Photo by SIMON MAINA / AFP) — Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge displays some of the new look Kenyan currency notes on June 3, 2019.(Photo by SIMON MAINA / AFP)

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, the Kenyan Shilling (KSh) has posted consistent losses against the US Dollar (USD) on global foreign exchange markets. But what explains the Kenyan Shilling’s weakness? Is there any prospect of reprieve for a currency that remains under constant pressure?

Trading at 104 against the greenback at the end of January 2020, the dollar has since strengthened by more than 25%, with the KSh/USD currency pair, at the time of writing, standing at 131.71.

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