NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 15 – Diaspora remittances in October rose by 8.9 percent, the Central Bank of Kenya has said noting that Kenyans abroad sent Sh37.8 billion compared to September’s Sh34.7 billion.
The figure also represents a 28.2 percent increase from the Sh29.4 billion sent in October 2020 , the regulator noted in the latest weekly bulletin.
“Remittance inflows totaled USD 337.4 million in October 2021 compared to USD 263.1 million in October 2020, a 28.2 percent increase, inflows increased by 8.9 percent to 37.4 million in October compared to 309.8 million in September 2021,” CBK said.
As of October, Kenyans abroad had sent Sh 268.4 billion with October posting the highest cash flows at Sh 37.4 billion.
CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge had projected cumulative diaspora inflows into Kenya could rise to USD 3.4 billion in 2021 compared to USD 3.09 billion recorded in 2020.
The United States of America (USA) continues to be the largest source of remittances in Kenya, accounting for 65.9 percent in October.
During the post-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in September, Njoroge indicated that the figures are subject to how the market continues to respond to post COVID-19 effects.
“We are projecting something in the order of USD 3.4 billion for the year 2021 so that is the number but again we need to re-evaluate this,” Njoroge said.
The trend however declined in August where the remittances in the month of August stood at USD 312.9 million due to what the regulator attributed to the change in the education cycle.
“The seasonality of remittances begins in July the numbers come down, August did it break that seasonality. We believe that it is related to changing the education cycle where people are going back to school,” he said.
