Kenyan Shilling (KES)

What Is the Kenyan Shilling (KES)?

The Kenyan shilling (KES) is the official currency of the Republic of Kenya. It is utilized in Kenya, the Sudan, and Somalia. The shilling is additionally separated into 100 pennies. Prices frequently incorporate the truncation KSh, as in "100 KSh" to allude to 100 shillings. KES is the foreign exchange (FX) trading symbol.

Figuring out the Kenyan Shilling (KES)

In 2009, the KES/USD exchange rate had arrived at approximately 75 shillings for every U.S. dollar, however throughout the next several years debilitated to a rate of more than 105 shillings for each dollar in 2015 and again in 2017. Starting around 2016, the Kenyan shilling has floated around the 100 mark against the dollar as worries develop around the amount of public debt Kenya has required on throughout the long term. As of January 2021, USD $1 is equivalent to about 110 KES.

The Kenyan shilling is among the most stable currencies in east Africa. Truth be told, it frequently courses in lining countries with less stable currencies, like Sudan and Somalia. Albeit less unstable than other regional currencies, the exchange rate for the Kenyan shilling has commonly debilitated relative to the U.S. dollar throughout the last decade.

The Kenyan shilling was first acquainted in 1966 with supplant the East African shilling. That currency had coursed in British-controlled areas of east Africa from the 1920s until the mid 1960s when Kenya (and other African countries) acquired independence from British rule. Due to recent changes to Kenya's constitution restricting portraits of individual individuals, the country started to give new banknotes and coins in 2018.

The Central Bank of Kenya manages the country's currency and permits its exchange rate to float freely against others in the global forex market. The central bank operates under a mandate to support price stability, maintain liquidity in the country's financial system, and support growth and employment.

KES and Kenya's Economy

The relative valuation of a currency, for example, the Kenyan shilling against different currencies depends, to no small degree, on the craving of individuals and organizations to hold assets denominated in shillings. This is partly affected by how other trading partners view Kenya's true capacity for economic growth and stability.

As per the World Bank, while Kenya's economy had been stale in recent years, the annual growth rate for the country's gross domestic product (GDP) has increased, coming to 5.8% in 2016. That yearly growth rate positions Kenya as perhaps of the quickest developing economy in Sub-Saharan Africa and just came to 5.4% in 2019. Kenya's GDP growth is due, to a great extent, to an increase in tourism and investment in the country's infrastructure.

The World Bank data additionally shows that gross national income per capita (measured in U.S. dollars) in Kenya multiplied somewhere in the range of 2006 and 2016 and that the country's GDP (additionally measured in U.S. dollars) dramatically increased, expanding from $25.8 billion to $70.5 billion over that same period. The caveat is that Kenya's public debt as a percentage of national output is currently 60% compared to around 40% in 2013.

M-Pesa

M-Pesa is a mobile banking service that permits users to store and transfer money through their mobile telephones. M-Pesa was presented in Kenya as an alternative way for the population of the country to approach financial services. Safaricom, the largest mobile telephone operator in Kenya, sent off M-Pesa in 2007. The service is a blend of two elements where M means mobile and Pesa means money or payment in the Swahili language.

Cash collected from M-Pesa is deposited in bank accounts held by Safaricom. The bank accounts act as customary checking accounts and are insured up to a maximum of 100,000 KES (or generally $1,000) by the Deposit Protection Fund.

Features

• The Kenyan shilling (KES) is the national currency of the African nations of Kenya, Sudan, and Somalia.
• KES circles in neighboring countries as a more stable option to store wealth than the nearby currencies.
• KES remains quite possibly of the most stable currency in east Africa.