National Treasury Principal Secretary (PS) Chris Kiptoo on Thursday told the National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy that while the weakening of the shilling against the dollar was regrettable, some Kenyans were making a fortune from the situation.
The PS assured Kenyans that the depreciation of the shilling was not entirely negative as Kenyans involved in the export trade benefited from the high exchange rates.
He thus urged Kenyans to invest more in foreign exchange earners, such as the tourism sector.
According to the PS, Kenya was emerging as a top tourist destination in the world, and traders ought to take advantage of the opportunity.
The Treasury remarked that the weakening of the shilling was mostly occasioned by external factors outside the government’s control.
However, the National Government had already rolled out stabilisation measures to tame the downward spiral.
"We have a situation where Commercial Bank reserves of the dollar are higher than what we have in the public coffers. However we are rolling out measures to create more confidence in the forex market," Kiptoo told the Parliamentary committee.
According to data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the Shilling traded at Ksh152.69 against the dollar as of November 23.
One of the measures President William Ruto’s administration embarked on to stabilise the dollar was signing a government-to-government oil deal with select Gulf countries.
The deal that was announced in March saw Kenya start importing fuel on credit for 180 days to ease pressure in the foreign exchange market.
Despite the government-to-government deal, the shilling sank to a historic low against major world currencies.
Kenya is also starring at losing billions after Uganda barred local companies from importing oil on its behalf in protest against the controversial G2G deal.
PS Kiptoo, while appearing before the Investment Committee, also discussed losses incurred by the East African Portland Cement Company.
Members of Parliament noted with concern that the parastatal had been consistently making losses despite being funded through taxpayers' cash.
