NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan shilling started the week lower on Monday, declining further against the U.S. dollar weighed by a rising demand for the greenback as month ends.
The local unit exchanged at an average of 101.80 to the dollar, a decline from 101.75 in the session on Friday last week.
The Central Bank of Kenya quoted the shilling at 101.83 to the dollar, a two weeks low down from Friday’s position of 101.75.
On the other hand, the East African nation’s commercial banks placed the shilling at between 101.75 and 101.95, similar margins the Kenyan currency closed on Friday.
Forex traders noted that as on Friday, the shilling was still under pressure from oil and retail importers’ demand for the dollar, with the Central Bank said to be supporting the currency.
Against the Sterling Pound, the shilling similarly declined to stand at 142.21 down from 141.55 at the end of last week.
The shilling last week declined 0.5 percent to end Friday at 101.75, a two-week low affected by high dollar demand amid inability of the country to access 1.5 billion dollars standby loan from the International Monetary Fund.
However, the East African nation last week raised 2 billion dollars following the issuance of Eurobond, money that would boost forex reserves from the current level of 7.4 billion dollars.