The Central Bank of Kenya has revealed that the “total money remitted by Kenyans abroad in the 12 months to November 2023 was $4.17 billion, from $4.021 billion in the same period last year,” as seen in a report by The East African publication.
The increase occurred in spite of the Kenyan government's intention to use a portion of the remittances from the diaspora to invest in domestic equity and bond markets, as foreign investment fell during the period under review.
According to the Diaspora Remittances Survey published in January by the CBK, a little less than 1% of diaspora remittances have been used to invest in financial market engines such as bonds or shares.
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“It is, however, not clear whether the government sought to tap the remittances into investments at source, in which case the remittance figures should have dropped gradually, or at home, which would mean remittance accounting would have not been impacted,” the East African report notes.
In January, a report revealed that Kenyan diaspora remittance may be contributing more to the country’s economy, than some of its actual resources.
The report by Kenya’s central bank showed that Kenya was at the time raking in more foreign exchange from its diaspora remittances than each of its major exports including coffee, tea, and horticulture.
The CBK report revealed that diaspora remittances rose by 8.34% to $4.027 billion in 2022, closing in on exports, which brought in $5.77 billion worth of foreign currency in the same period.
By October, the CBK announced that Kenyans abroad had sent home an extra Sh2.3 billion, which surpassed figures represented in the bank’s 2022 report. According to the Central Bank, “the cumulative inflows for the 12 months to October 2023 hit $4,165 million (Sh634.9 billion) compared to $3,996 million (Sh609.1 billion) in the same period in 2022, an increase of 4.2 percent.”
