By George Obulutsa
NAIROBI, Oct 7 (Reuters) – Kenya’s central bank maintained its benchmark lending rate on Wednesday, saying it saw inflation staying within its target range in the short term despite it edging up in the past three months.
• It was the fourth policy meeting in a row that the Central Bank of Kenya has kept the rate unchanged at 8.75%.
• Nine of 11 economists polled by Reuters had predicted no change in the rate, while two had predicted an increase to 9.0%.
• Kenya’s inflation rose to 6.8% year-on-year in September from 6.6% a month earlier, moving closer to the upper end of the government’s preferred 2.5%-7.5% range.
• The central bank said in a statement: “Government interventions, including subsidies and the temporary reduction of VAT on fuel, continue to mitigate inflationary pressures.”
• The central bank marginally revised upwards its 2026 economic growth forecast, to 5.0% from a 4.9% projection in August.
• It said the El Niño weather phenomenon was a key risk to the growth outlook.
• The bank now forecasts a current account deficit of 3.2% of gross domestic product in 2026, compared with a deficit of 2.1% of GDP in 2025.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa;Editing by Alexander Winning and Toby Chopra)
