Despite the grim outlook from international credit rating agencies, the Kenyan shilling made a surprising recovery this week, ending at Ksh129.15 per US dollar, a notable improvement from Ksh132.22 the previous week. Traders noted that the currency slipped slightly on Friday due to increased dollar demand from the manufacturing sector. Last month, Moody’s downgraded Kenya’s ratings to ‘Caa1’ from ‘B3’, citing the government's diminished capacity to implement fiscal consolidation. Fitch Ratings also contributed to the bleak outlook, downgrading Kenya’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'B-' from 'B'. The shilling’s recovery journey began in late January when it hit a historic low of Ksh162 to the US dollar.

Source: Daily Nation August 03, 2024 13:00 UTC