For the nine months ending September, commercial banks’ earnings from foreign exchange trading nearly doubled due to higher demand for the dollar and wider margins.
Bank executives attributed the nine top lenders’ 87.11 percent year-on-year growth to increased demand for the dollar due to higher commodity prices, such as petroleum products, which sparked fierce competition for the greenback this year.
Since the beginning of the year, the shilling has depreciated 8.13 percent against the globally bullish dollar, owing to strong demand for the greenback. The exchange rate has long been a sensitive issue, with most participants preferring to remain silent for fear of repercussions from the central bank.
According to the analysis, I&M Group’s forex trading income more than tripled to Sh3.78 billion from January to September 2022 compared with Sh1.81 billion the prior year.
BDA