The Kenya Shilling is at all-time low against the US dollar. On Tuesday, September 19, data from the Central Bank of Kenya showed that the Shilling was officially trading at Sh. 147 against the US dollar.
Barely a week earlier on the week of September 11, the Shilling was trading at 146. In the market though, the Shilling was trading at lows of over Sh. 150 against the US dollar. The Shilling has been losing by at least one Shilling every week.
This marked a fresh low for a currency that has suffered the hardest hit in Kenya’s recent history under the one year rule of President William Ruto.
On September 14, 2022, a day after the swearing in of President William Ruto, the shilling was officially trading at 120 against the US dollar.
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Six months later, the shilling officially traded at 130 against the US dollar, and up to Sh. 147 in the black market! It the deteriorated past Sh. 140 and is now inching closer to Sh. 150 against the US dollar.
The status of the Shilling has gotten so bad that neither the president nor his government’s officials discuss the depreciation any longer.
Earlier in the April 2023, the president had made promises that he was going to bring the shilling back to the 115 to 120 level against the US dollar. At the time, the Shilling was trading at 134 to the Dollar.
“Today as a country we can buy fuel in Kenyan shillings, something that many people never thought would be possible. From this month of April, all our fuel marketers will be able to buy our fuel products in Kenya shillings and it will reduce pressure on our dollars,” Ruto had said.
He had gone on to say: “In fact in the next one month or so you will see the dollar exchange rate coming down in a very phenomenal way. In fact in my estimation, in the next couple of months, the exchange rate will come below Sh.120, maybe Sh.115.”
Alarmingly, the shilling had also lost value against regional currencies with the Ugandan currency gaining by as much as ten shillings against the Kenya shilling and the Tanzania shilling by around two shillings.
