Author: David Indeje

Kenya’s foreign exchange reserves rose by Ksh.61.5 billion ($533 million) to a record high of $9,352 billion in the week ended April 8, 2022, the Central Bank data showed Friday.  According to the CBK data from the Weekly Bulletin, forex reserves are now at Ksh.966.2 billion ($8.373 billion) compared to Ksh.904.7 billion ($7.84 billion) previously. This is equivalent to 4.98 months of import cover. Cytonn Investments says the reserves were boosted by the USD 1.0 bn proceeds from the Eurobond issued in July 2021, USD 972.6 mn IMF disbursement, USD 130.0 mn World Bank loan financing received in June 2021,…

Elon Musk will no longer be joining  Twitter’s board of directors CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet on Monday. Agrawal said, “Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board.” “I believe this is for the best. We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input.,” the CEO added. https://twitter.com/paraga/status/1513354622466867201?s=20&t=6159mZuddZFwknrs9Ai8bw Musk who owns a  9.2% stake in the social media…

Customers in Kenya will now be able to pay for goods and services through Lipa Na M-Pesa from any network.  This is after Kenya’s leading telcos Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom announced merchant interoperability through their mobile money services. The merchant interoperability however will entail the ‘Lipa Na M-Pesa Buy Goods Till’, excluding the Paybill option whose consideration has been pushed to a later date. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) termed the move as an important step in the evolution of Kenya’s payment services, as it allows customers of these mobile money providers to make payments to any merchant regardless…

In a concert at the Jain Bhavan Auditorium in Nairobi, the Safaricom Youth Orchestra displayed a mastery of art and harmony as they played charmingly intimate pieces to the audience. This was the first physical event in 2 years.  Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the Safaricom Youth Orchestra did not fail to impress. As a result, it held its  8th Safaricom Youth Orchestra graduation ceremony. Themed “Play it Forward”, students were encouraged to go out into the world and make a difference through acts of kindness such as volunteering their skills or mentoring others who are pursuing the same musical path. …

Unregistered SIM cards in Kenya will be deactivated by April 15 as the government steps up the fight against crime and improve data accuracy. Communications Authority (CA) has already ordered all mobile network operators to speed up the data cleanup exercise, adding that no more time will be added. ”We must ensure each subscriber is duly registered. We have about 65 million SIM cards active in Kenya. It means each and every person born in Kenya has a number attached to them. But we know the fact is most people have more than one SIM card,” Mr. Ezra Chiloba, Director…

Kenya’s fiscal deficit is likely to stay at the budget estimate of 6.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022-23, according to Finance Minister Ukur Yatani. The fiscal deficit estimated by the budget is Ksh 862.5 billion. This is equivalent to 6.2 percent of GDP in the financial year to July down from Ksh 1,024.3 billion equivalent to 8.1 percent of GDP in the FY 2021/22. “The fiscal deficit will be financed through net external financing of Ksh 280.7 billion equivalent to 2.0 percent of GDP and net domestic financing of Ksh 581.7 billion equivalent to 4.2 percent of…