Kenyan Forex Crisis: Central Bank Orders Financial Institutions to Ration Dollars

Growing shortages of foreign exchange on the interbank market have reportedly forced the Central Bank of Kenya to ask financial institutions to ration dollar purchases by Kenyan businesses. The shortages have forced Kenyan firms to seek greenbacks on alternative markets where the exchange rate is higher than the official government rate. New Limits Curtailing Operations … Read more

Report: Flutterwave CEO in Bid to Recover Millions Stuck in Kenya

According to reports, the CEO and co-founder of the Nigerian fintech Flutterwave, Olugbenga Agboola, recently visited Kenya where he sought to convince the country’s monetary authorities to grant the firm access to funds that have been blocked since July 2022. Agboola claimed that his firm had “instituted a number of changes over the past year … Read more

Report: Kenyan Lawmaker Proposes Introducing Crypto Income and Capital Gains Tax

According to a capital markets amendment bill reportedly sponsored by Kenyan lawmaker Abraham Kirwa, cryptocurrency holders in the country will be obliged to pay taxes on gains. In addition, the bill (if passed into law) would require crypto holders to furnish Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority with details such as “the amount of proceeds from the … Read more

Kenyan Central Bank Says It’s ‘Craziness’ to Convert Country’s Reserves to Bitcoin

The Kenyan central bank governor Patrick Njoroge has described as “craziness” the calls to convert Kenya’s reserves into bitcoin. He added that he would have to be out of his mind before agreeing to this. Njoroge argued that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are not only volatile, but are hardly solving any problem. CBK Governor Says Converting … Read more

Speculators and Crypto Traders Blamed for Naira’s Plunge, Kenyan Institutions Told to End Dealings With Nigerian Fintechs, CAR Token Sale off to Slow Start

In this week’s Africa news highlights, the Nigerian central bank blames speculators for causing the local currency’s plunge to a new all-time low on the parallel market. In Kenya, the central bank has told financial institutions to cease having dealings with two Nigerian fintechs, Flutterwave and Chipper Cash. The Central African Republic’s token sale is … Read more