NAIROBI, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's U.S. dollar reserves rose by 87 million U.S. dollars last week amid a surge in inflows, the country's apex bank said on Monday.
The Central Bank (CBK) data show that the reserves stood at 8.196 billion dollars or 5.37 months of import cover at the close of Friday last week, up from 8.109 billion dollars or 5.31 months of import cover.
It is the second highest level that the forex reserves have stood this year, having hit 8.23 billion dollars late January before falling, with analysts attributing the performance to a stronger local unit against the dollar.
The local currency is currently exchanging against the dollar at an average of 100, about an 1 percent increase since the start of the year.
A stronger shilling means the central bank does not need to sell its dollar reserves to boost the shilling against international currencies.
Inflows, according to analysts, are coming from diaspora remittances and investors buying government securities at the debt market.
