NAIROBI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has accumulated about one billion U.S. dollars in foreign exchange reserves over the past few weeks, raising the total to a record high of 8.49 billion dollars as of Thursday, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said in an update released on Friday evening.
According to the CBK, these new reserves, the highest in over two years, now cover 4.4 months of imports.
This represents a significant increase from the 7.5 billion dollars in reserves recorded at the beginning of September, which provided 3.8 months of import cover. The last time Kenya's forex reserves covered more than four months of imports was in July 2022, according to CBK data.
This week alone, the country's reserves grew by a record 192 million dollars, bringing the total to 8.49 billion dollars, enough to cushion the Kenyan shilling in the event of market volatility, the CBK said.
CBK Governor Kamau Thugge said the rise in reserves was due to the bank's purchases of dollars from the local market.
Despite the changes, the Kenyan shilling remained stable, averaging an exchange rate of 129 to the dollar throughout the week. ■
