Foreign Exchange Reserves
The usable foreign exchange reserves decreased by 0.08% to USD 13,306 million (5.60 months of import cover). This remains above the CBK’s statutory requirement to endeavor to maintain at least 4.0-months of import cover and above the EAC region’s convergence criteria of 4.5-months of import cover.
Currency
The Kenya Shilling appreciated against the Dollar, but depreciated against the Sterling Pound and the Euro to exchange at KES 129.11, KES 174.88 and KES 152.10 respectively. The observed appreciation against the Dollar is attributed to a relatively lower demand for the currency.
Currency YTD Change W-o-W Change Dollar 0.05% -0.03% Sterling Pound 0.53% 0.91% Euro 0.24% 0.76%
Liquidity
Liquidity in the money markets decreased, with the Kenya Shilling Overnight Interbank Average (KESONIA) increasing from 8.75% to 8.76%, as tax remittances more than offset government payments. Remittance inflows totaled $450.30 million in March 2026, a 9.11% increase from $412.72 million in February 2026 and a 6.48% increase from $422.90 million in March 2025. Open market operations remained active Liquidity Week (Previous) Week (Ending) KESONIA 8.75% 8.76% Inter-bank volume (billion) 14.96 10.15 Commercial banks’ excess reserves 6.90 12.80 (billion)
Fixed Income
T-Bills
T-Bills were under-subscribed during the week, with the overall subscription rate decreasing to 58.32%, from 102.30% recorded in the previous week. The 182-day T-Bill received the highest subscription rate at 76.67%, while the 91-day T-Bill and 364-day T-Bill had subscription rates of 64.45% and 37.51% respectively. The acceptance rate decreased by 0.07% to close the week at 99.84%.
Treasury Bill Yields
13.00% 11.00% 9.00% 7.00% Apr-25 Jul-25 Oct-25 Jan-26 Apr-26 91 day yields 182 day yields 364 day yields
T-Bonds
In the secondary bond market, there was a lower demand for the week’s bond offers. Bond turnover decreased by 23.56% from KES 53.20 billion in the previous week to KES 40.67 billion.
Total bond deals increased by 5.56% from 791 in the previous week to 835. In the primary bond market, CBK released the results for the reopened bond SDB1/2011/030 and the new issue FXD1/2026/030, with coupon rates of 12.00% and 12.50% respectively. The issues received bids worth KES 38.33 billion against a target of KES 20 billion. Of these, KES 30.06 billion were accepted at weighted average rates of 13.00% and 13.76% respectively.
Eurobonds
In the international market, yields on Kenya’s Eurobonds decreased by an average of 0.19% and 0.67% week-on-week and month-to-date respectively, but increased 0.83% year-to-date. The yields on the 10-year Eurobonds for Ivory Coast and Angola declined.
Bond YTD Change MTD Change W-o-W Change 2018 10-Year Issue 1.27% -0.50% -0.21% 2018 30-Year Issue 0.24% -0.49% -0.07% 2019 12-Year Issue 0.92% -0.74% -0.18% 2021 13-Year Issue 0.69% -0.83% -0.15% 2024 6-Year Issue 1.01% -0.81% -0.35% 8.27% 7.83% 7.42%
Equities
NASI, NSE 20, NSE 25, NSE 10 and the Banking Sector Index settled 0.54%, 0.45%, 0.25%, 0.08% and 0.95% higher, bringing the year-to-date performance to 11.09%, 14.82%, 12.45%, 9.97% and 17.99% respectively. Market capitalization also increased by 0.54% from the previous week to close at KES 3.45 trillion, recording a year-to-date increase of 16.74%. The performance was driven by gains recorded by large cap stocks such as Coop Bank, StanChart, Stanbic, ABSA and Equity of 5.18%, 4.73%, 3.03%, 1.78% and 1.01% respectively.
The Banking sector had shares worth KES 1.5B transacted which accounted for 28.87% of the week’s traded value. Energy & Petroleum sector had shares worth KES 2.3B transacted which represented 43.58% and Safaricom, with shares worth KES 1.1B transacted, represented 21.07% of the week’s traded value.
Top Gainers and Losers in the Equities Markets
YTD YTD Top Gainers W-o-W Top Losers W-o-W Change Change Sameer 36.07% 18.69% Sanlam Kenya 5.92% -6.06% B.O.C Kenya 10.91% 12.02% I&M Holdings 13.20% -5.92% E.A Portland 11.34% 7.28% Flame Tree 48.43% -5.60% BK Group 28.24% 7.11% Umeme 1.27% -4.99% Kenya Pipeline - 6.88% Unga 14.96% -4.75%
Alternative Investments
Week (Previous) Week (Ending) % change Derivatives Turnover (million) 43.61 17.20 -60.56% Derivatives Volume 7,943 2,594 -67.34% ETF Turnover (million) 14.33 27.87 94.45% ETF Deals 122 148 21.31% Global and Continental Markets Global Markets YTD Change W-o-W S&P 500 -3.76% 4.54% Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) -2.15% 3.19% FTSE 100 (FTSE) -6.72% 0.63% STOXX Europe 600 -4.86% 1.91% Shanghai Composite (SSEC) -0.69% 1.64% MSCI Emerging Markets Index -10.50% 3.21% MSCI World Index -4.41% 3.94% Continental Markets YTD Change W-o-W JSE All Share 4.44% 1.87% NSE All Share (NGSE) 38.77% 6.57% Global and Continental Markets The US stock market rallied to its highest finish since late February during the week, following investor optimism over Iran’s decision to open the Strait of Hormuz.
European stock markets posted gains during the week, upon announcement from both the US and Iran of opening of the Strait of Hormuz and easing in government bond yields. Asian stocks also gained over the week amid hopes for renewed US-Iran peace talks easing geopolitical risk and also supported by strong cues from the Wall Street.
On the global commodities markets, Crude Oil WTI and ICE Brent Crude closed the week 14.48% and 5.06% lower at $82.59 and $90.38 respectively. Gold futures prices settled 1.93% higher at $4,879.60.
Week's Highlights
The National Treasury gazetted revenues and expenditure for March 2026. Total revenue collected amounted to KES 1,826.91 billion, representing 62.63% of the original KES 2.92 trillion target. This was 11.57% lower than the projected KES 2,066.03 billion for the period. Total expenditure reached KES 3,2077.22 billion, accounting for 72.34% of the original estimate. The resulting fiscal deficit of KES 1,380.31 billion was financed through domestic borrowing and external borrowing of 63.77% and 36.23% respectively.
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) released its latest monthly statement on the maximum retail prices of petroleum products, effective 15th April to 14th May 2026.
Pump prices for super petrol and diesel increased significantly by KES 28.69 and KES 40.30 per litre, while that of kerosene remained unchanged, retailing at KES 206.97, KES 206.84 and KES 152.78 per litre respectively. The government reviewed the VAT on fuel from 16% to 8% and subsequently, the prices of super pertol, diesel and kerosene were revised downwards to KES 197.60, KES 196.63 and KES 152.78 per litre respectively.
Samasource Impact Sourcing Inc will lay off 1,108 workers in Kenya after American Social Media Giant, Meta, terminated a major content moderation and data annotation contract, dealing a sharp blow to the country’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. The layoffs underscore the concentration risk facing Kenya’s BPO sector, where a small number of U.S.
technology companies account for a significant share of high-volume digital work. LAPTRUST Imara I-REIT posted a net loss of KES 280.32 million for the year ended 31 December 2025, deepening from a KES 204.30 million loss in the prior year. The decline was driven by a sharp collapse in rental income and a third consecutive fair value markdown on its property portfolio eroded earnings across all key lines. Rental and related income fell 39.4% to KES 290.58 million from KES 479.06 million in FY2024, the single most consequential revenue deterioration in the trust's three-year listed history. The decline was partially cushioned by a near-doubling of other operating income to KES 190.43 million, bringing total operating income to KES 481.01 million, down 17% year-on-year.
The European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers acknowledged that the war in the Middle East had made the outlook significantly more uncertain, creating upside risks for inflation and downside risks for growth, although the central bank was well positioned to navigate this uncertainty. The environment could change rapidly, and uncertainty regarding both the war and its economic impact was likely to remain very high in the future, but it was also possible that this uncertainty might be resolved over the coming weeks or months. Although the near-term inflation outlook had been revised up substantially, inflation was still seen to stabilise around the 2% target over the medium term.
The Bank of England unanimously voted to keep the Bank Rate at 3.75% in March 2026, as the conflict in the Middle East has caused a sharp rise in global energy and commodity prices, pushing up household fuel and utility costs and raising business expenses. Prior to this shock, domestic prices and wages had been showing continued disinflation. The MPC is closely monitoring the risk of second-round effects on wages and prices, which could increase the longer energy costs remain high. Recent data showed headline inflation at 0.1% in February, with medium-term pressures largely unchanged. Higher energy prices are expected to push CPI to between 3% and 3.5% over the next few quarters, though a slowdown in economic activity from rising costs could limit second-round effects.
The People’s Bank of China maintained its key lending rates at record lows for the 11th straight month in April 2026, matching market expectations. The move reflected caution about the fallout from the war in the Middle East, even as domestic deflationary pressures ease and earlyyear growth proves resilient. The one-year loan prime rate (LPR), the benchmark for most corporate and household borrowing, was held at 3.0%, while the five-year LPR, a reference for mortgage rates, remained at 3.5%. In Q1 2026, China's economy expanded by 5%, accelerating from 4.5% in late 2025 and placing it at the top of Beijing’s full-year target range. Authorities have lowered that target to 4.5%–5%, the least ambitious since the 1990s.
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