KENYA: Remittances from diasporas

Commentary on Remittances in 2009 Mr. Charles Gitari Koori, Director Research Department

The Central Bank of Kenya conducts a survey on remittances data every month based on information collected from formal channels that include commercial banks and other permitted international remittances service providers in Kenya.

Table 1 summarizes the data on remittances since the survey was initiated in 2004. For 2009 total remittances stood at US$ 609million (equivalent to Kshs 47.1 billion). This was slightly lower than 2008 remittances of US$ 611million (but higher in shilling terms equivalent to Kshs 42.3 billion due to exchange rate movements). Remittances in December 2009 rose by 40% to US$ 56m (Kshs. 4.2 billion) from US$ 40m (Kshs 3.1 billion) in December 2008. Similarly, remittances increased by 16.8 percent in the month of December, 2009 from US$ 48 million in November 2009. Read more