Kenyans in the diaspora sent home $2.546 billion (KSh256.4 billion) in the first 11 months of 2019, according to the latest data from Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
The 11-month diaspora remittances represent a growth rate of a measly 3.8 percent compared with $2.453 billion (KSh.247 billion) sent home in the same period in 2018, the slowest rate in three years. In the same period last year, money sent home by Kenyans living and working abroad grew by 40.7 percent from the previous year.
The figures from CBK show that Kenyans in North America maintained their grip as the largest contributors to Kenya’s diaspora inflows, contributing 47.84 percent of the total remittances in the 11-month period. Kenyans living in Europe sent home the second-highest amount of remittances with 23.9 percent while the rest of the world combined accounts for 28.07 percent.
Kenyans abroad remitted $218.8 million (KSh.22.03 billion) in the month of November, a 2.4 percent decline compared with October’s remittances, which stood at $224.3 million (KSh.22.6 billion).
Since 2015, diaspora inflows have been Kenya’s top foreign exchange income earner ahead of tourism, tea, coffee and horticulture exports. Last year, the World Bank placed Kenya’s diaspora remittances at Sh280 billion, which was Sh38 billion more than the rest of Eastern Africa nations including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and Ethiopia combined (Sh242 billion).
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