Kenya’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $56 billion to $9,296 billion in the week ended Aug. 13 compared to $ 9,352 the previous week, CBK data showed on Friday.
In the week ended Aug -21, the reserves had increased by $11 billion to $9,352 billion.
“The usable foreign exchange reserves remained adequate at USD 9,296 million (5.68 months of import cover) as at August 12. This meets the CBK’s statutory requirement to endeavour to maintain at least 4 months of import cover, and the EAC region’s convergence criteria of 4.5 months of import cover,” the CBK said in its Friday Weekly Bulletin.
The decline is largely attributed to payments from the government.
“The money market was liquid during the week ending August 12, supported by government payments, which partly offset tax remittances,” CBK said.
In the week, Treasury bills auction received bids totalling KSh 7.0 billion against an advertised amount of KSh 24.0 billion, representing a performance of 29.3 per cent.
In addition, its newly reopened ten and twenty-year fixed-rate bonds that were first issued in 2019, 2018 and the new twenty-year bond of 2021, received bids totalling KSh 104.6 billion against an advertised amount of KSh 60.0 billion, representing a performance rate of 174.4 per cent.
The previous week, the central bank mopped up Ksh 113 billion in excess liquidity via Term Auction Deposits (TADs). The regulator on behalf of the National Treasury raised Ksh 23 billion through Treasury Bills.
