Kenya central bank lowers 2026 growth forecast to 5.4%
NAIROBI, June 11 (Reuters) - Kenya's central bank has lowered its 2026 economic growth forecast to 5.4% from a 5.6% forecast given in April, its governor Kamau Thugge said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday the Central Bank of Kenya reduced its 2025 growth forecast to 5.2% from 5.4% as it cut its benchmark lending rate (KECBIR=ECI), opens new tab for the sixth meeting in a row, saying it wanted to provide further support to the economy.
The Central Bank Rate was lowered by 25 basis points (bps) to 9.75%, whereas its previous cut was by a larger 75 bps.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
QUENTIN LETTS: Mrs Badenoch was perkier than usual. Does she finally glimpse hope?
Does Kemi Badenoch finally glimpse hope? The rotten economic growth figures were published shortly before she made a speech in the City of London. By that time the nation had been subjected to downbeat verdicts on the government's spending splurge and to the sight and sound of Rachel Reeves on the breakfast airwaves. Captain of sinking pedalo urges passengers not to abandon ship. Mrs Badenoch strolled into the low-ceilinged, implausibly-chandeliered function room of one of those modern hotels on the edge of the Square Mile. The event was the FTSE 250+ conference, an assembly of 'key risk-takers' seeking 'sharp perspectives from the front lines of our turbulent, opportunity-rich markets'. A fruit-juice-and-Danish-pastries affair. The session was chaired by an economist, Kallum Pickering, who bluntly told the Tory leader 'we're all a bit grumpy'. Skinny, bearded Kallum explained that the audience – youthful, cologned – felt 'like a stalled engine but with a bit of clear road we could be pumping pistons'. He was resentful of political embuggeration and did not exonerate the last Tory government. Kemi rather agreed with him. She thought Net Zero targets were nuts. She was at ease with these people. It was an easier gig for her, say, than a hall full of public sector workers. She recalled her own City days when she came to 'loathe compliance culture'. The room warmed to that. These were people whose lives are made a misery by human-resources nags. She attacked big corporate outfits that 'profited from bureaucracy'. Did she mean the 'big four' accountancy firms? The audience had not expected her to swipe at their bigger rivals. It gave a purr of approval. Time and again she attacked the 'bloated' state and a Labour cabinet that lacked business experience. A mention of Ms Reeves's fictitious curriculum vitae earned a laugh. Nigel Farage's lot wanted to nationalise industries, keep big benefit bills yet loosen tax bands. 'It's a scam. It's my job to expose this stuff. These are not serious people.' Kallum stroked his beard and pointed out that Reform was ahead in the opinion polls, with the Tories trailing in third place, a distant Austin Allegro with smoke billowing from its bonnet. Kemi: 'We have four years of Labour. From the way people are discussing the opinion polls you'd think there was an election next year. We have to tell people the truth.' Just before Christmas she had spoken to the Canadian Tory leader Pierre Poilievre, who at that point had a 23-point lead in the opinion polls. He has since lost both an election and his parliamentary seat. Things changed fast. Mrs Badenoch can be a dull performer. This time she was perkier. Maybe it was because she could say wonkish things and know that the audience would follow. Maybe it was because of 'events'. In the past fortnight Reform has had internal squabbles and taken a peculiar turn leftwards economically, while taking an anti-liberty step towards a burka ban. Has Mr Farage sacrificed both his authenticity and his cheerfulness? Then came Wednesday's spending review, with its mad billions and the inevitability of tax rises. Dreadful for the country but possibly a reprieve for Mrs Badenoch's Tories. 'It's going to be a revolution,' she said of her plans, breezily. 'We need to unleash animal spirits.' Animal spirits! Helen Whately, shadow welfare secretary, is more mouse than lion. Kemi feared 'the bond vigilantes' were circling over Ms Reeves. The Government's economic policy was 'in a death spiral' and this created a gap for the centre-right. 'That is the space I fill.' Coolly informal, she addressed them conversationally, more a colleague than a would-be political leader. 'I'm on your side,' she cooed, 'but I need you to be on mine, too.' She implored them to 'speak up' and 'tell your customers to speak up, too'. Was that a gurgling 'help, I'm drowning'? Or was it a sense, at last, that her refusal to panic in recent months might finally start to produce buds of a political recovery?
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
World Business Report More than 200 people in India have died in a plane crash
An Air India plane, bound for London with 242 people on board, crashed shortly after take-off in Ahmedabad. We catch up with the latest developments in western India, and what it means for the people and companies involved. Elsewhere, police have been guarding government buildings as Kenya's leaders announce their annual budget in Parliament amid growing tensions in Nairobi. The latest business and finance news from around the world, on the BBC.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
IMF welcomes Argentina reform steps ahead of end-June visit
LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that it welcomed recent measures taken by Argentina's central bank and finance ministry ahead of a visit by the Fund to the country later in June. Argentina's central bank rolled out a broad package of economic measures on Monday to boost reserves, including an up to $2 billion repurchase agreement. The steps are part of President Javier Milei's 'Phase 3' economic plan, which includes easing monetary controls, floating the peso, and cleaning up the central bank's balance sheet. "We welcome the recent measures announced this represent another important step in efforts to consolidate disinflation, support the government's financing strategy and to rebuild reserves," said Julie Kozack, Director of the IMF's Communications Department during a media briefing. "The Treasury's successful re entry into capital markets and other actions to mobilize financing for Argentina are also expected to boost reserves and stability overall." Kozack said the IMF team continued to engage "frequently and constructively" with Argentine authorities as part of the program's first review of the recently agreed $20 billion loan agreement. To this end, a technical mission was due to visit Buenos Aires in late June, Kozack added, to assess progress on program targets and objectives, and to also discuss the authorities' forward-looking reform agenda. "More broadly and despite the more challenging environment, the authorities, as I said, have continued to make very notable and impressive progress."
