This archive report was first published on 10 September 2019.
According to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), Kenyans living and working abroad sent home $224 million (Sh23.3 billion) in July, a significant drop from the previous month.
This decline marks a 24% fall from the $295 million (Sh30.6 billion) recorded in June, which was the highest in years, expanding 21% from $243 million (Sh24.7 billion) in May.
Despite the drop, the 12-month cumulative remittances reached Sh280 billion, a 11.1% increase from the same period the previous year.
CBK attributed the reduced diaspora remittances in July to the end of a tax amnesty for the return of taxable assets stashed abroad, which was announced by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich in 2016 and ended on June 30th this year.
North America contributed the largest share of July 2019 remittances (48%), followed by Europe (20%) and 31% from the rest of the world.
As CBK noted in its weekly bulletin, the 12-month cumulative inflows to July 2019 increased to $2,778 million from $2,501 million in the 12 months to July 2018, reflecting a growth of 11.1%.
