Kenyans withdraw more than Sh58.5 billion from bank after Kenyatta reopens economy


Devdiscourse News Desk | Nairobi | Updated: 08-10-2020 12:07 IST | Created: 08-10-2020 12:06 IST
 Kenyans withdraw more than Sh58.5 billion from bank after Kenyatta reopens economy
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After President Uhuru Kenyatta has partially re-opened the economy, Kenyans withdrew more than Sh58.5 billion from their bank accounts in August, according to a news report by The Standard.

The easing up led to a drop in total money supply in the economy from Sh3.9 trillion in July to Sh3.84 trillion in August, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

"This decline was mainly attributed to drop in demand deposits and withdrawal of money from banks by businesses that are opening up," said KNBS in its latest report.

This is a positive sign that the economy, which has been choking under the stringent containment measures aimed at curtailing the spread of COVID-19 is now on a recovery path.

Afraid of losing their money in a volatile business environment, most Kenyans had stashed their money in savings and fixed deposits. Money in savings and deposit accounts in banks rose by Sh217.8 billion between March when the country registered its first case of coronavirus and July.

With fewer importation of goods and services, foreign currency deposits increased by Sh25.8 billion. However, President Uhuru Kenyatta has gradually been relaxing these measures, signaling the return to normalcy.

This has spawned a flurry of economic activity that had initially slowed down with Kenyans withdrawing Sh53.9 billion from their savings account, the KNBS data shows.

It is also good news for the close to 1.7 million Kenyans who lost their jobs between April and June due to the pandemic.

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