Remittances from Kenyan Diaspora

Commentary on Remittances for June 2011 Mr. Charles Gitari Koori, Director Research Department

The Central Bank of Kenya conducts a survey on remittance inflows every month from the formal channels that include commercial banks and other permitted international remittances service providers in Kenya.
The monthly remittance flows have remained strong in 2011. In June 2011, remittances to Kenya amounted to US$ 71.9 million, which was 37 percent higher than the level in June 2010 and marginally higher than US$ 68.1 million recorded in May 2011. In the first half of 2011 remittance inflows amounted to US$ 406.5 million, and were 35.4 percent above US$ 300.2 million recorded over a similar period in 2010 (Table 1). The average flow therefore rose to US$ 68 million from US$ 50 million in a similar period in 2010. The 12 month cumulative average also shows that remittance flows have kept pace and sustained an upward trend from the second half of 2010 (Chart 1).

Table 1: Monthly Remittance Inflows ( 2004 to 2011 in US$ '000)

Year	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
January	25,154	28,564	31,506	40,930	53,925	39,535	45,117	64,139
February	27,676	26,056	30,283	39,533	50,382	53,353	46,423	60,759
March	29,944	31,219	36,354	48,562	59,344	55,361	52,309	71,577
April	27,773	29,216	35,369	38,251	67,872	48,117	52,679	70,071
May	26,931	32,358	42,427	41,163	48,538	49,180	51,172	68,124
June	30,047	34,360	35,667	48,643	49,490	46,347	52,541	71,888
July	33,187	29,133	41,065	53,350	44,137	50,372	50,652
August	28,894	31,759	30,587	58,803	43,388	55,947	51,993
September	28,894	31,616	28,841	60,575	48,953	53,347	58,557
October	25,223	33,037	29,633	46,848	61,113	53,037	58, 503
November	25,473	34,282	31,403	55,564	43,970	48,231	56,380
December	29,130	40,557	34,459	41,421	40,129	56,329	65,617
Annual Total	338,326	382,153	407,593	573,643	611,241	609,156	641,943	406,538

The increase in remittances in 2011 reflects economic recovery in source markets, and a favourable domestic economic environment. The source markets for remittances have on average maintained the same shares with North America contributing 54 percent and Europe 26 percent of total remittances to Kenya in June 2011, compared with 51 percent and 29 percent respectively in May 2011.


Link: -http://www.centralbank.go.ke/forex/Diaspora_Remit.aspx