US remittances jump offsets declining flows from EU

Kenya’s diaspora remittances rose 6 per cent in June compared to May this year as Kenyans living in America and the rest of the world sent more money to offset declining flows from Europe.

Total inflows increased to Sh15.76bn($156m) in June from Sh14.8bn ($146m) in May.

Remittance inflows from North America increased by 11.9 per cent and accounted for 49.3 per cent of total inflows in June 2016.

Inflows from Europe decreased by 6.3 percent and accounted for 28 percent of total inflows while inflows from the rest of the world increased by 13 percent and accounted for 22.8 percent of total inflows.

The sterling pound and the euro weakened after Britain kicked itself out of the Euro partly reducing the volume of inflows from Europe.