Kenya’s central bank expects inflation to fall within its target range in the first quarter of 2023 and is satisfied with the country’s current trajectory, according to Governor Patrick Njoroge, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“We are not comfortable with where it is now, but we are confident that it is on its way down, and we expect it to be in our target range sometime this quarter,” Njoroge said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. Kenya’s inflation rate fell to 9.1% in December, remaining above the central bank’s target range of 2.5% to 7.5%.
“The prospects are good for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the price of oil has been declining,” Njoroge told the Reuters Global Markets Forum. With this in mind, the bank anticipates the Kenyan economy to grow 6.2% this year, Njoroge said, and does not expect a potential global recession to be “unmanageable”.
The bank is also not worried about depreciation of the Kenyan shilling, and expects more external financing to support the government budget, Njoroge said.