Kenyan Diaspora Monthly Remittance Grew By 9.26% in August

Kenyan Diaspora sent home 17 billion shillings for the month of August, an increase of 9.26 percent from the month of July.

According to data released by Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), Kenyans working abroad remitted back 17.18 billion shillings (USD 166.4 mn) for the month of August compared to 15.72 billion shillings (USD 152.3 mn).

Basing on a year-to-year, data from the CBK shows that the remittances from the diaspora grew by 13.4 percent from 15.15 billion shillings.

Money sent from abroad by Kenyans has been key in shielding the Kenyan shilling. The Kenyan shilling has been on the receiving end repeatedly against the US Dollar, the Sterling Pound, and the Euro. The pressure on the shilling has been attributed by the CBK to low export earnings which stood at 15.99 billion shillings in the month of June. This was a drop of 4.1 percent from the 16.7 billion shillings that was realized in the month of May.

In other market news, Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU) have announced October 17^th as the start date of tea workers’ strike notice over failure to implement 30 percent salary hike awarded in 2014.

On the other hand, the Kenya Tea Growers Association (KTGA) is opposed to the strike citing the timing and lagged impact of drought effect on the sector. KTGA has asked for the suspension of the strike as a ruling at the Court of Appeal is yet to be made.

The strike will mainly have a major impact on Kapchorua Tea Plc (NSE: KAPC), Williamson Tea Plc (NSE: WTK), Limuru Tea Company Ltd (NSE: LIMT) which derives the majority of earnings from tea.