By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Kenya has posted a 42 percent growth in Diaspora remittances from African countries in the last seven months, even as more Kenyans continue to seek job opportunities, especially within the continent.
According to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data, in the last seven months to July, Kenyan citizens living in other African countries repatriated at least $164.4 million (Ksh22.2 billion), a significant increase from $116 million (Ksh15.6 billion) last year.
The growth is the fastest among all continents in a period when North America and Europe are dealing with high inflation that averaged eight percent in the US and 7.9 percent in the UK.
The search for ‘greener pastures’ in terms of employment and education is the biggest factor pushing Kenyans to go try their luck abroad.
Sources indicate that Uganda and Zambia are examples of countries offering better opportunities for Kenyans.
Inflows from Zambia more than doubled, growing 136 percent to $5 million, followed by Uganda, which posted a 113.5 percent growth in cash sent back home by Kenyans.
Inflation in the US has since eased to 3.2 percent in July. But with cumulative seven-month inflows, the world’s biggest economy still declined by 1.6 percent ($22 million) to $1.36 billion.
Remittances, which are the single-biggest source of forex inflows into Kenya, stood at $4.3 billion (Ksh483 billion last year), beating earnings from tourism (Ksh268 billion-$1.85 billion), tea (Ksh163 billion-$1.13 billion) and horticulture that brought in Ksh152.2 billion ($1.1 billion) last year.
High global inflation brought by geopolitical tensions led to the United States raising its interest rates, which resulted in contractionary global monetary policies and a preference for government securities as investment assets due to a reduction in inflows into Kenya.
Qatar posted a 38.4 percent fall to $31.9 million, while inflows from Oman declined to $1.1 million (68 percent).
South Africa also posted a significant drop halving to $6.3 million from $13.5 million in the January-July period last year.
