The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has retained the benchmark lending rate at 9.5 percent following its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held on Monday.
The MPC noted that fiscal measures it undertook in March were still transmitting in the country to slam breaks on inflationary pressures.
Kenya has already announced key measures to tame the run-away inflation which declined to 7.9 percent in the month of April.
These measures include the provision for duty-free import of food items including sugar, and maize, which are expected to moderate prices and ease domestic inflationary pressure.
The retention, according to CBK is anchored on a number of economic factors including the disbursement of the recent World Bank Development Policy Operations which will go a long way to help the liquidity situation in the country.
There’s also ongoing implementation of the fiscal year 2022/23 budget based on the performance of revenue collection and the proposed 2023/24 budget which continues to reinforce fiscal consolidation.
The ratio of gross non-performing loans (NPL) in the month of April to gross loans rose to 14.6 percent from 14 percent in February.
Increase in NPL were noted in the manufacturing, real estate, building and construction, and trade sectors.
