Author: David Indeje

NCBA bank plans to shed off some of its staff commencing November through a voluntary exit program beginning November. NCBA Group Managing Director John Gachora through a memo to staff says the redundancies have been attributed to the tough and uncertain operating environment. The lender is undergoing a consolidation process after the CBA, NIC merger creating Kenya’s third-largest bank by asset base. “The COVID-19 pandemic, which is the most harrowing health and economic crisis of our lifetime, has affected the execution of our growth plans. We have had to defer our plans to scale our branch network and have taken…

Kenya’s foreign exchange reserves continued to decline considerably in the week as the central bank intervened to reduce the slide of the currency. The forex reserves fell from Ksh 888 billion shillings ( 8.22 billion U.S. dollars) to 8.12 billion dollars, the Central Bank of Kenya said in its weekly bulletin published Saturday. The dollar reserves have been on a decline in the past weeks as the shilling faces pressure from international currencies. The previous week, the forex reserves declined by 143 million dollars as the shilling depreciated. During the week, the shilling exchanged at KSh 108.83 per US dollar…

Kenya Airways on Saturday cancelled the resumption of flights to New York flights due to increased cancelations. The flights were to resume on October 29. In a statement, KQ said, “We regret to announce that due to cancellations of flight bookings to New York City, we have pushed back the resumption of our service to this destination to 29th November.” The airline said it has made alternative arrangements for thor customers who had booked with them. KQ expanded its codeshare partnership with the US Delta Air Lines expanding its current network in North America offering customers flying into Dallas, Washington…

Kenya’s inflation edged up slightly in October due to higher food prices and fuel costs, remaining within the Central Bank’s 5.0 percent medium target. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics on Friday said the country’s overall year-on-year inflation increased to 4.84 percent in October from 4.2 percent last month. This was a four month high. Month-on-month food and non-alcoholic drinks’ index increased by 1.14 percent in October, while year-on-year food inflation increased by 5.76 percent. Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels’ index increased by 0.94 percent attributed to an increase in the cost of cooking fuels. The cost of…

Umoja Rubber Products limited was awarded the overall energy-efficient company at the 16th Annual Energy Management Awards, celebrating excellence in energy efficiency in the Kenya manufacturing sector. The award was given to the Mombasa based footwear manufacturer in recognition of its continued commitment and efforts towards improvement in energy efficiency, reduction in carbon emission, and implementation of various energy conservation initiatives at a function organised by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM).  Mombasa Cement, Athi River Unit took the runners up award.  The event themed ‘Rewarding Excellence in Sustainable Energy’ awarded over 20 companies that have achieved significant reductions in…

The Central Bank of Kenya may retain its lending rate at 7% ahead of the next scheduled policy review on November 26. The Central banks’ Monetary Policy Committeee has maintained the central bank rate (CBR) since April and injecting liquidity to counter economic slowdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. The MPC last met on 29th September 2020. Ahead of the meeting, the CBK’s foreign exchange reserves have been dwindling dropping by KSh44 billion to stand at $8,223 million (KSh894.7 billion) on October 22, from $8,627 (Sh938.6) billion on September 24. On the other hand, the Kenyan currency has been weakening.…