Remittance inflows increased slightly in November, the Central Bank of Kenya said Thursday.
The inflow increased to USD 345.5 million in November compared to USD 332.6 million in October, an increase of 3.9 per cent.
The cumulative inflows for the 12 months to November totalled USD 4,021 million compared to USD 3,667 million in November 2021, an increase of 9.7 percent.
“The remittance inflows continue to support the current account and the foreign exchange market,” the CBK said in its Weekly Bulletin, dated December 9, adding that the US remained the largest source of remittances, accounting for 55.8 per cent in the month.
However, according to the World Bank, despite Kenya’s steady remittance inflows and the recovery in tourism, the current account deficit increased as surging commodity prices pushed imports to an all-time high.
The multilateral lender says remittances remained resilient, increasing by 13.5 per cent y/y to reach $4,019 million in the year to August 2022.
“However, these developments were not sufficient to offset the impacts of the large commodity price shock, leading the current account deficit to widen to US$6.3 billion in the year to August 2022 from US$5.5 billion in the same period last year,” it said in its Kenya Economic Update, December 2022: Continued Rebound, but Storms Cloud the Horizon: Policies to Accelerate the Productive Economy for Inclusive Growth.”
The current account deficit is projected to increase to 6.0 per cent of the GDP by the end of 2022.
