CBK reserves fall to Sh390b

By Standard Reporter

The country’s forex reserves have fallen. The Central Bank of Kenya said its official usable foreign exchange reserves fell to $4.425 billion (Sh390 billion) this week from $4.549 billion (Sh400 billion) last week. 

The bank of last resort has been  pumping billions in repos to tighten liquidity. The shilling  has been on a losing streak, seen to be sliding towards the historical lows of Sh107 witnessed towards the end of last year.

It nearly hit Sh88 mark late Thursday  before it returned to the range of Sh87.5.

Meanwhile, Uganda’s central bank cut its key lending rate by 100 basis points to 20 per cent yesterday, citing a steady easing of price pressures.

Bank of Uganda  forecast the east African economy would grow 5-6 per cent in the 2012/13 fiscal year.

“It is now clear that the disinflationary momentum in the economy has solidified, providing further evidence of the effectiveness of the tight monetary policy stance implemented by the Bank of Uganda,” Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile told a news conference.

 Ugandan food prices fell slightly in May from a month earlier, slowing the headline year-on-year inflation rate to 18.6 percent, the lowest in almost a year.