Kenya Trending on Twitter
By Kamau Wanguhu
Ardent twitterzens will have noticed in the past two days two distinct Kenyan topics that have been trending: firstly the passing on of Prof Wangari Maaathai a Nobel peace prize winner, great conservationist and former Member of Parliament. Secondly has been #Things stronger than the Kenyan shilling, a tongue in cheek commentary on the tanking of the Kenyan shilling against the green back. Kenyans have taken to twitter to vent their frustrations in the only way they know how self deprecation.
As this chart shows the steady rise of the dollar against the Kenyan shilling and with it the prices of basic commodities such as fuel and many industries largely dependent on imports have equally been negatively impacted.
The central bank had initially released foreign exchange into the market in order to ease the crunch. However with the shilling slide not abating the Central bank has now opted to sell foreign exchange directly to traders bypassing commercial banks. In a country where price controls have recently been introduced on fuel products and some grain products the latest effort might signify a significant shift in government policy and portrays a move away from market determined mechanisms. While the ultimate beneficiary should be the consumers of imported goods this short term intervention may suffer from skewed market interpretation.
