Markets & Finance

CBK to hold next rate-setting meeting on July 7

CBK

The Central Bank of Kenya building in Nairobi on on June 20, 2015. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) will hold its next rate-setting meeting on July 7, the regulators said on Thursday.

The bank raised its benchmark lending rate 10.00 per cent from 8.50 per cent on June 9, when it held a special meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee, after the currency slumped and inflation quickened.

The shilling dropped to a 3-1/2 year low at the time, creating concerns that inflation could rise even faster.

The rate change was the first since a cut two years ago. The last rate hike was in December 2011.

The July meeting will also be the first after parliament approved the nomination of US-educated economist Patrick Njoroge, an adviser at the International Monetary Fund, as governor of the central bank.

It was not immediately clear if Njoroge will chair the meeting. Haron Sirima, one of the bank's deputy governors, chaired the last meeting and he may still do so if Njoroge will not have assumed office.