Naira, Shilling, and Rand Struggle Amid Rising Rates

Here’s this week’s overview of the Nigerian Naira, Kenyan Shilling, and South African Rand:

Nigerian Naira

The Nigerian Naira weakened by a further 0.9 % against USD last week and continues to struggle.

The central bank unexpectedly raised rates to 26.75% on Tuesday in a bid to defend the currency against its recent slide. Reports of recent interventions, however, have done little to stop the downward momentum of the Naira.

Tempering of inflation and inward dollar flows will be essential to stop the currency depreciating further.

Kenyan Shilling

Kenyan Shilling weakened against the dollar last week to trade at 130.5 on Friday. There were no data releases of note last week.

South African Rand

South African Rand depreciated against USD last week by 0.1% to trade at 18.3 at close on Friday. Inflation data showed a softening in line with market expectations with headline inflation now at 5.1% annualised.