NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 3 – The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has reported a decline in remittance from Kenyans in the Diaspora in the month of September.
A statement on CBK’s website shows that flows in September declined by 4.6 percent from $55.9 million (Sh4.2 billion) in August to $53.3 million (Sh4.1billion).
The decline is reflected in inward remittances from the rest of the world which decreased from $17.2 million (Sh1.2 billion) in August to $10.2 million shillings (Sh770 million) in September.
North America and Europe continued to record the highest rate of remittances, while those from the rest of the world account for less than a third of total remittances.
There was an increase in flows from North America from $25.4 million to $28.3 million, while that from Europe was also on an upward trend from $13.4 million (Sh1 billion) to $14.9 million (Sh1.1 billion).
Total remittances for the first nine months till September stood at $451 million (Sh34 billion).
CBK Director of Research Michael Gitaari said the stabilisation in remittance flows in the second quarter of 2009, may in part reflect the bottoming up of the global economic recession as a result of coordinated intervention by policy makers.
Remittance flows to developing countries have proved to be resilient compared with other private flows.
CBK monitors the monthly flow of data on remittances from Kenyans living abroad through commercial banks and registered international money transfer agencies in the country.
Remittances from informal channels are however not captured, something CBK governor Prof Njuguna Ndungu says they will be monitoring closely, with the aim of streamlining them.
Remittance through informal channels is said to be close to $50 milion which Prof Ndungu has said CBK would be tracing.
“That figure is not chicken feed by any standards, but what I want to happen is to know what that money is financing to see what whether it is being used appropriately.”
