Central Bank Governor moves to calm down investors that the country is stable despite ongoing political crisis

Kenya’s Central Bank Governor has moved to assure investors that the country is stable and stronger despite the ongoing political crisis.

After the August 8th presidential elections were nullified by the Supreme Court due to various offenses committed by the electoral body, Kenya has been in a state of high political uncertainty.

However, political and judicial institutions have emerged stronger in the process.

“The current state of affairs is one of high uncertainty, but I think the point here is that it is all political uncertainty, based on recent announcements by the Supreme Court and the sequence of events that followed that,” Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge said on Wednesday.

“I see it as a mark of maturity of the democratic process,” he added.

Political jitters are hurting the economy and ordinary Kenyans and traders have cried foul about the sluggish economy.

The situation has been compounded further by daily protests called by the opposition which are held across the country calling for electoral reforms.

Hospitality industry especially down at the Kenyan coastal region has taken a hit, some hotels have even recorded cancelled booking as tourists chose to stay away from the country due to the crisis.

Njoroge said that the central bank was in the process of revising down its growth forecast, adding the recent drought had been another factor in slowing down economic expansion.

“We still think there isn’t a precipitous collapse in growth, on the contrary we still believe that we will have growth rates above 5 percent,” he said.

He added the central bank was closely watching the situation and is committed to the flexible exchange rate policy, just like it had smoothened out excess volatility every now and then.