NAIROBI, March 30 (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling traded flat
against the dollar on Thursday, as the long-dormant interbank market picked up
steam, helping to meet foreign exchange demand, traders said.
At 0943 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 132.25/45, the same as
Wednesday's close.
Refinitiv data shows the shilling has lost 6.7% of its value against the
dollar this year.
Last week, President William Ruto said the government was working with the
central bank to revive the interbank foreign exchange market, which had been
inactive in recent years, because of what traders said was aggressive policing
by the central bank.
On Thursday central bank governor Patrick Njoroge said the return of
interbank trade over the past two weeks had smoothed out volatility in the
shilling's exchange rate.
"There's a cooling off on the demand side because of the revival of the
interbank market," said a trader at one commercial bank.
On Wednesday, the central bank raised its benchmark lending rate to 9.50% from 8.75% previously and said there was room for further
tightening of monetary policy in anticipation of higher inflation.
(Reporting by Hereward Holland; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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