Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Treasury cuts CBK overdraft to Sh26.8bn


The Central Bank of Kenya building in Nairobi. FILE

The Central Bank of Kenya building in Nairobi. FILE 
 
By GEOFFREY IRUNGU

S


The Treasury has cut its overdraft balance at the Central Bank of Kenya for the first time since September last year, as the regulator also stepped up efforts to ease cash shortage in the financial market.

The latest CBK weekly report shows the overdraft dropped by Sh7.4 billion or 22 per cent to Sh26.8 billion compared to the previous week’s Sh34.2 billion.

The emergency loan to the government has been rising since September and had stood at the maximum limit of Sh34.2 billion in recent weeks before the fall last week.

The overdraft facility for government is often used to finance pressing expenditure, including payment of salaries, pensions and maturing debt.

The loan facility, set at a statutory maximum of five per cent of the revenue of the most recently audited government annual accounts, is supposed to be fully cleared by the end of every financial year.

The weekly report says CBK also stayed out of the interbank market in the week ending January 8.

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