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Why vacuum at Central Bank could be behind the latest shilling slump

Central Bank of Kenya PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE

It is now apparent that besides external factors beyond control of monetary authorities, part of the reason the Kenya Shilling is hurtling down against the US dollar could be lack of a substantive Governor at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

When markets opened yesterday, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 97.75/85 to the dollar from 97.50/70 at Thursday’s close with dealers eyeing Sh100 to the greenback in the coming days. However, yesterday’s trading reversed an earlier drop of as low as 99.13 the previous day. CBK sold an undisclosed amount of dollars on Thursday’s session, buoying the shilling from a low of 98.95/99.05 - a level last seen in November 2011.

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