Public Service CS Moses Kuria now says that Kenyans who are hoarding dollars should sell them before it is too late.
Speaking on Saturday, Kuria said some of the measures the Kenya Kwanza administration put in place have seen the Kenyan shilling gain rapidly against the US Dollar.
He noted that the shilling has gained a high of Sh20 against the US Dollar in just a week of paying off the Eurobond and that more gains are coming.
He encouraged those keeping Dollars to sell them so they would not suffer bigger losses when the shilling strengthened further.
“Kwa zile harakati ambazo rais na makamu wa rais na serikali yetu imefanya, uchumi wetu umeanza kufufuka. Juzi mmeona shilingi kwa wiki moja tumemaliza kulipa maneno ya Eurobond shilingi yetu imegain Sh20 against Dollar na mambo bado. Kama wewe umeficha Dollar nyumbani kwako tafadhali sikiza mtu anasema ukweli. Enda uza Dollar leo otherwise utajipata pabaya,” Kuria said.
This loosely translates to, “With the actions that the president and deputy president and our government have made, our economy has started to recover. The other day you saw the shilling, just one week after we finished paying the Eurobond terms, our shilling has gained Sh20 against the Dollar and things are still happening. If you have hidden dollars in your home, please listen to someone who is telling the truth. Go sell the Dollars today otherwise, you will find yourself in trouble.”
As of Saturday, the Kenyan shilling was trading at Sh141 against the US Dollar.
His remarks come barely three days after Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua also advised Kenyans hoarding dollars to sell them immediately, saying all indications are that the shilling will continue gaining against the foreign currency in the coming days.
The DP’s advice came on a day the Kenyan shilling posted the strongest single-day gain against the dollar in 12 years after 11 straight days of appreciation to trade at Sh153.75 at some commercial banks.
“You know I’m truthful and I told Kenyans the truth,” the DP said.
Gachagua said he previously warned that the dollar’s value would depreciate owing to President William Ruto’s economic policies but some people ignored him and continued hoarding the currency.
