Worry as firms turn to dollar to escape battered shilling

The surging US dollar has seen the shilling weaken, contributing to the skyrocketing prices of most basic commodities. [iStockphoto]

Kenya risks turning into a partially dollarised economy as more traders and corporates shun the troubled shilling in favour of the greenback for day-to-day transactions, experts have warned.

The trend referred to as dollarisation, where the use of dollars as a means of exchange informally gains currency for ordinary transactions like rent payments and other utilities, experts say, poses many risks to the economy.