July saw only 1.4pc cent lending growth

Richard Ngatia, chairman of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce, Nairobi Chapter

Credit to the private sector grew by less than four per cent for the whole of 2017, marking a year when banks completely shunned the private sector.

According to the Central Bank of Kenya monthly reports, January saw the biggest expansion of credit this year at 3.9 per cent as lending slumped the most in a decade, last seen when Kenya was in the upheaval of the 2007 post-poll chaos.