President William Ruto declares that, unlike Uhuru, he would not assist the Kenyan shilling; it must stand on its own.
The depreciation of the Kenyan shilling is not going to stop. Furthermore, you would be wrong to anticipate assistance from the government.
President William Ruto continued his administration’s practice of blaming the previous administration, in which he was the Deputy President, on Friday, November 17, 2023.
President Ruto said that the past Uhuru Kenyatta administration was artificially supporting the Kenya shilling while defending the G2G oil deal, which former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called a swindle.
According to him, the previous administration supported the shilling with up to USD 2 billion. He declared, “This is a liberal market; we will do what we have to do, increase manufacturing and exports to strengthen our shilling.”
This occurred as the shilling slowly approached the 160 level in relation to the US dollar.
The claims made by the president in April 2023 about the reasons for the shilling’s depreciation are drastically different from his current ones.
The shilling was supposedly declining in April due to dollar hoarding, according to the president and his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua.
According to the president’s proposal, the G2G oil agreement will relieve pressure on the shilling.
Within a few weeks, he said, the shilling would strengthen and reach highs of 115 to 120 versus the US dollar. This was never realized.
Current Governor Kamau Thugge made reference to the hoarding hypothesis when he was being interviewed for the Central Bank of Kenya governorship. He also stated that he would issue a bond that was dominated by dollars after succeeding former Governor Patrick Njoroge.
“It is something I would like to investigate further with the National Treasury—issuing a bond in dollars, the same way we issue infrastructure bonds—and structuring and selling them locally,” Thugge had previously stated.
“There is a chance that we can enhance the dollar liquidity in the system and increase the foreign exchange reserves in the Central Bank if we can convince Kenyans who currently have dollars in their deposits to invest in it.”
Thugge said a few weeks ago that the artificial strength of the shilling was the reason it was plummeting uncontrollably.
The departed President Kenyatta allegedly oversaw six years during which the shilling was overvalued, according to the CBK Governor.
After assuming office, he claimed, the administration of current president William Ruto realized the shilling was overpriced.
As per the Governor’s statement, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund had declared that the former president Uhuru’s government was manipulating the shilling to maintain its strength.
However, as the shilling keeps sinking, President Ruto and the National Treasury have shifted their stance to say that previous President Uhuru is to blame.
