Twelve months ago, you only needed about Sh108 to buy one dollar. Today, you need almost Sh125 and it could even get higher. This broad erosion of the purchasing power of the Kenya shilling is all self-inflicted and little to do with geopolitics.
First of all, the export-import gap continues to widen. In 2021, Kenya’s total volume of trade stood at Sh2,287.2 billion, out of which exports were Sh643.7 billion while imports stood at Sh1,643.6 billion, leaving a trade deficit of Sh1 trillion. Two decades ago, Kenya’s trade deficit stood at just Sh100 billion. But make no mistake.
