Author: David Indeje

Kenya received $3.09 billion billion in remittances in 2020 supported by financial innovations that provided its diaspora community more convenient channels for their transactions, the central bank said on Friday. CBK said the remittance inflows were strongly buoyant in 2020, despite the devastation by COVID-19 (coronavirus) in the source countries. “Remittances rose to a record high of US$3,094 million in 2020, from US$2,796 million in 2019, an increase of 10.7 percent. In the month of December 2020 alone, remittances reached a historical peak of US$299 million,” the Central Bank said in a statement announcing the first-ever Diaspora Remittances Survey. The…

Kenyan citizens can travel visa-free and obtain a visa on arrival to 72 countries  out of 218 according to the 2021 Henley Passport Index and Global Mobility Report. This is a marginal improvement from 2020.  According to the report released on January 5, the Kenyan Passport maintained its position among the top 10 most powerful passports in Africa featuring at ranked9 within the continent and position 73 globally. Kenya was ranked behind Seychelles (28), Mauritius (31), South Africa (54), Botswana (62), Namibia (68), Lesotho (69), eSwatini (71) and Malawi (72). Tanzania was ranked 74, Tunisia (74), Zambia (74), Gambia (75)…

The Kenya Revenue Authority has reopened its Voluntary Tax Disclosure Program (VTDP)  to help taxpayers  to get current with their taxes. Under the program, taxpayers with tax penalties that have accrued over the past five years will now be eligible for full or partial relief. KRA says that the penalties will include interests on the undisclosed taxes, and will be implemented under the VTDP that was introduced through the Finance Act, 2020. The VTDP became effective 1st January 2021 and shall be in effect for a period of 3 years up to 31st December 2023. KRA aims to use the…

ICEA Lion Group has launched its online “Money Market Fund” dubbed DigiTrust and is open for subscription with a minimum of Ksh 500. The scheme will allow investors to create and track their investment goals online. https://twitter.com/icealion/status/1349247293136973824?s=20 Money Market Funds are liquid and low-risk because of the instruments your cash is invested in.  MMF earns interest daily and it is compounded and annualized. The rate of interest is known as daily yield and effective annual yield. The daily yield is the daily interest which is computed on the funds daily and credited to your account and the effective annual yield…

Kenya’s creditors Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Spain and the US under Paris Club creditors have accepted to provide to Kenya a time-bound suspension of debt service due from January 1 to June 30, 2021. “The Government of the Republic of Kenya is committed to devote the resources freed by this initiative to increase spending in order to mitigate the health, economic and social impact of the COVID19-crisis. The Government of the Republic of Kenya is also committed to seek from all its other bilateral official creditors a debt service treatment that is in…

The East African Business Council (EABC) is urging for lowering and harmonization of COVID-19 related charges in the East African Community, in a bid to ease the cost of doing business and boost intra-EAC trade. EABC chief executive Peter Mathuki says whereas Tanzania and Burundi are charging a standard rate of $100 (KSh10,960) for both nationals and foreigners, other partner States’ charges vary. Mathuki said this had turned out to be another form of a Non tariff Barrier (NTB) preventing a rebound of cross-border regional trade. The regional partner states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda have…