Omtatah wants banks to cut interest rates further

Activist Okiya Omtatah has asked the High Court to compel lenders to lower their interest rates further, arguing that they have used the wrong benchmark rate to re-price their loans in line with a new law capping lending rates.

The Banking (Amendment) Act 2016, which commences on Wednesday next week, sets the floor for deposit rates at 70 per cent of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) base rate and a ceiling for lending rates at four percentage points above the benchmark rate.