The worst is still with us as we don’t know when this pandemic will end, Central Bank Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge has said.
This, he said, even as small and medium businesses continue to feel the pinch from the ravaging effects of Covid-19 to the economy.
During the post Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Friday, Njoroge said that the pandemic needs to be controlled first before the economy recovers since at this point is not the GDP that matters but the health of citizens.
“We are seeing lawyers selling vegetables along the bypass and therefore we know things are thick, the Gikomba fire yesterday also really affected traders in the market and this is bad for the economy,” Njoroge said.
Meanwhile, there was an increase in remittances sent home in the month of May as countries abroad eased restrictions due to Covid-19.
Kenyans in South Africa sent home $258 million (Sh24.4billion) in May an increase from $208 million (Sh22.1billion) in April as the country eased its lockdown.
“Remittances from the United States also increased significantly as the country resumed to normalcy,” said Njoroge.
He however said that Kenya should not be quick to resume to normalcy, as countries which were resuming normalcy continued to record high number of cases of the deadly virus.
“We will to ensure that the private sector will have access to ample resources and credit to reboot once the pandemic is over,”he said.
On Thursday, the Monetary Policy Committee for the second time retained the base lending rate at seven per cent, citing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.
The apex bank also extended measures to facilitate mobile money transactions for another six months including free mobile money transactions of up to Sh1,000 adopted in March.
