Elevated energy import, resulting mostly from higher import prices, led to a widening of the current account deficit and added to depreciation pressures in the domestic FX market since the start of the year. For this reason, we have also revised our current account deficit projection for this year from below 5%, which is what we expected in February, to 6.5% of GDP.
Ladies and Gentlemen: The Kenyan Mobile Phone Financial Services story has become a much acclaimed global case study. To date, over 17.8 million Kenyans transfer over Ksh.3.1 billion to each other daily with over 1.1 million transactions.