Kenyan Leaders Call for President to Sign Interest Rates Bill

Leaders are calling on President Uhuru Kenyatta to sign into law the interest rate capping Bill that was presented before him for assent. The Head of State now has less than 14 days to either sign the Bill or reject it with reasons as well as with the proposed amendments. The debate about capping interest rates imposed on loans by commercial banks in Kenya continues to rage on with those supporting the idea saying that the move will help bring sanity in the banking sector in Kenya.

The Bill proposes the interest rates to be 4 percent below those set by the Central Bank of Kenya, something that the Kenya Bankers Association was against saying that it was going to hurt the economy as well as the operations of the banks in the country. All eyes are now set on the Head of State to see whether he will assent to the Bill or decline and if he declines, he will have to give tangible reasons why.

Read: Central Bank of Kenya opposes capping interest rates

Currencies

The Kenyan shilling strengthened against the US Dollar by 0.83 percent year-to-date. The shilling also held ground against the Sterling Pound by 13.79 percent year-to-date. The Euro, however, was strong against the shilling by 1.67 percent year-to-date.

Equities

The Market turnover at the bourse recorded  125.5 percent  increase to   594.52 Million shillings or 5.86 Million US Dollars from yesterday’s trading. The NSE 20 index gained 1.15 percent to close at 3,485.36 while NASI index gained 1.66 percent to close at 146.80. Foreign investors on the other hand assumed a net buying position by accounting for 81.9% of total market purchases and 38.9 percent of total market sales.

On the East African Community Markets, in Uganda, the USE ALSI declined 0.11 percent to close at 1,633.41 while USE LSI gained 0.75 percent to close at 390.35. In Rwanda, the RSE RSI declined 0.30 percent to close at 136.46 while RSE RASI remained constant at 129.36 while in Tanzania, the DSE DSEI declined 0.40 percent to close at 2,660.72 as DSE TSI also declined 0.05 percent to close at 4,012.79.