This archive report was first published on 26 June 2020.
On June 26, 2020, the Central Bank of Kenya's (CBK) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), chaired by Governor Patrick Njoroge, met to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the economy.
According to the committee's statement, Kenya experienced strong growth in the first quarter of 2020, with the economic effects of the pandemic most pronounced in April 2020.
Despite the pandemic-related restrictions, Kenya's export goods showed a 4.1% improvement between January and May 2020.
Receipts from tea and horticulture exports increased by 15.2% and 22.7% respectively compared to May 2019, as reported by the MPC.
The committee attributed the economic stimulus package's success in mitigating the pandemic's effects, which was used to justify maintaining the Central Bank Rate (CBR) at 7%.
CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge signed the statement, which noted that the package of policy measures deployed since March were having the intended effect on the economy.
The committee concluded that the current accommodative monetary policy stance remains appropriate, and therefore decided to retain the Central Bank Rate (CBR) at 7%.
