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Kenya central bank cuts main lending rate to 9.75%
Kenya central bank cuts main lending rate to 9.75%

Zawya

time2 days ago

  • Business
  • Zawya

Kenya central bank cuts main lending rate to 9.75%

Kenya's central bank cut its benchmark lending rate to 9.75% on Tuesday from 10.00% previously, the bank's Monetary Policy Committee said. It was the sixth monetary policy meeting in a row that the Central Bank of Kenya has lowered the rate. "There was scope for a further easing of the monetary policy stance to augment the previous policy actions aimed at stimulating lending by banks to the private sector and supporting economic activity," the bank said in a statement. Economists polled by Reuters had been divided on what the central bank's decision would be. Out of seven forecasts three were for a cut, three for no change in the policy rate and one for a hike. (Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Alexander Winning)

US-Somali airstrikes kill al Shabaab militants, hit weapons ship, government says
US-Somali airstrikes kill al Shabaab militants, hit weapons ship, government says

Yahoo

time17-04-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

US-Somali airstrikes kill al Shabaab militants, hit weapons ship, government says

MOGADISHU (Reuters) -Two joint Somali-U.S. airstrikes killed 12 al Shabaab militants in central Somalia and destroyed a ship carrying weapons for the al Qaeda-linked group, the Somali government said on Thursday, following recent advances by the Islamists. The airstrikes came hours after the Islamists attacked the strategic town of Adan Yabal, which lies about 245 km (150 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu, and has been used as an operating base for raids on al Shabaab. Al Shabaab has been waging an insurgency since 2007, seeking to seize power and rule based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic law, and it has been gaining ground since last month. Several senior al Shabaab fighters were among those killed in an airstrike carried out by Somali forces and the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) in the Adan Yabal district late on Wednesday, Somalia's government said. "The targeted strike hit a site used by the militants as a gathering and hideout," the Ministry of Information said in a statement on the social media platform X, adding that no civilians had been killed in the strike. A further airstrike was conducted by the government and AFRICOM on an unidentified and unflagged ship and smaller support vessels that were transporting weapons for al Shabaab within Somali waters, the ministry said. The vessels were destroyed their occupants were killed, it added. In a separate incident on Thursday near the southwestern city of Baidoa, the national army killed at least 35 al Shabaab fighters as they tried to attack a military base there, the ministry said. Al Shabaab briefly captured villages within 50 km (30 miles) of Mogadishu last month, raising fears among residents of the capital that the city could be targeted. Somali forces have recaptured the villages briefly seized last month, but al Shabaab has continued to advance in the countryside, leading the government to deploy police and prison guards to support the military, soldiers have told Reuters. The outcome of the heavy fighting that broke out on Wednesday in Adan Yabal was not immediately clear, with government forces and al Shabaab giving conflicting accounts of who was in control of the town. Al Shabaab said its forces had overrun 10 military installations during the fighting. (Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Ammu Kannampilly and Helen Popper)

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