Kenyans living abroad sent home Ksh56.7 billion ($437.2 million) in October this year, an increase of 22.9 per cent compared to the same period last year when the foreign remittance stood at Ksh46 billion ($355.6 million).
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in its weekly bulletin published on Friday, November 15, announced that the cumulative inflows for the 12 months to October 2024 increased by 15.3 per cent to Ksh623 billion ($4.8 billion) compared to Ksh532 billion ($4.1 billion) in the same period last year.
According to CBK, the United States was the largest source of diaspora remittances to Kenya, accounting for 53.7 per cent of the contributions channelled into the country in October 2024.
The regulator in its announcement, revealed that the remittance inflows boosted the country’s current account and stabilised the foreign exchange market.
A current account represents the country's imports and exports of goods and services, payments made to foreign investors, and transfers such as foreign aid.
In 2024 alone, the months of January, August, September, and October recorded the months with the highest dollar inflow from diaspora remittances with October highlighted as the best-performing month.
In the weekly bulletin, the central banks also noted that the country’s foreign reserves rose to their highest level in three years as dollar inflow from the recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) disbursement narrowed the current account deficit.
The Forex reserved held by the central bank rose by 8.6 per cent to $9.27 billion by November 14, compared to a week earlier, sufficient to pay for 4.8 months of imports.
“The usable foreign exchange reserves remained adequate at USD 9,276 million as of November 14. This meets the CBK's statutory requirement to endeavour to maintain at least 4 months of import cover,” read part of CBK’s bulletin.
Despite the dollar inflows from diaspora remittances, Kenya's currency weakened marginally against the United States Dollar in the week ending November 15.
As of Friday, November 15, the central bank quoted the Kenyan shilling trading at Ksh 129.35 per US dollar compared to Ksh 129.20 per US dollar on November 7.
The local currency weakened slightly against the dollar as traders said the US currency had strengthened globally following the presidential election, thus increasing the demand for foreign currency.
