Author: David Indeje

The Central Bank of Kenya held its benchmark lending rate at 7.0% on Monday, the bank’s monetary policy committee said. The MPC said the current accommodative monetary policy stance remains appropriate. “The MPC will closely monitor the impact of the policy measures, as well as developments in the global and domestic economy, and stands ready to take additional measures as necessary. The Committee will meet again in May 2021, but remains ready to re-convene earlier if necessary,” the CBK noted.

NCBA Bank has recorded a decline in its net profit from KSh 7.8 billion to KSh 4.5 billion at the close of the financial year ended 31st December 2020. The listed lender attributed the decline to the coronavirus pandemic and containment measures which resulted in the disruption of regular business operations. “These factors resulted in higher delinquency levels thus necessitating that the Group prudently take significant loan loss impairment reserves, ultimately impacting the profit before taxation,” it disclosed in its audited financial results. This is the first time NCBA is announcing full-year results as an entity following the successful merger…

Kenya’s new containment measures and other restrictions due to the third wave of Covid-19 infections, market analysts see bad loans rising. “Businesses and households might once again struggle to service their loans and as such, most loans might be categorized in stage 3,” says Cytonn Investments. Stage 3 loan classification means that the loan’s credit risk has increased to the point where the loan is considered credit impaired or in default.  “The business disruptions that could result from the lockdown measures announced coupled with resultant supply chain disruptions will also lead to increased cost of risk for the banking sector,”…

Kenya Airways will suspend domestic flights to Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu from 29th March (Monday) at 12 pm as cessation of movement in and out of Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, Kiambu and Nakuru Counties was announced Friday. This follows President Uhuru Kenyatta announcement as part of the new Covid-19 containment measures necessitated by the third wave of coronavirus infections. The airline said all its international flights will operate as per schedule. READ Negative Covid-19 PCR Certificate Must for Travelling to Kenya “To address our customers’ needs for additional domestic flights, we have increased the number of scheduled flights between Nairobi-Mombasa and…

Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator Safaricom has pioneered the 5G network in East Africa, “critical in delivering new solutions” the telco said. Safaricom said it has commenced trials for 5G with both individual and enterprise customers in Nairobi, Kisumu, Kisii and Kakamega. As part of its trial, the company plans to expand the number of such 5G sites to more than 150 across nine towns over the next 12 months. The new 5G network will give consumers internet speeds of 700 megabits per second, more than three times faster than the current 4G network. The 5G technology will be supplied by…

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday dampened hopes for a full economic recovery, saying to ‘avert a national health crisis due to rising infections, cessation of all movement in and out of four counties was reintroduced to slow the spread of the virus. According to the head of state in his televised address, the positivity rate in the country was at its highest since the pandemic, the death rate is devastating by all measures, and the stress the pandemic is placing on our health system is unparalleled. “This wave is expected to peak in the next 30 days with more…