Hopes for Kenyans to get cheaper loans are dimming further after parliament declined to pass the amendments to cap interest rates on loans in April.

Borrowers are likely to be subjects of expensive loans for a long while as experts predict that The Central Bank of Kenya is likely to maintain its 18% lending rate. Although the cost of living is said to have been on the downward trend for the last five months, the Central Bank Rate (CBR) is likely to remain at 18%.

CBK’s advisory body, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday to review the performance of the economy on whose basis it fixes the Central Bank Rate (CBR) but there could be minimal changes  on the same.

Banks and other financial institutions base their lending rates on the CBR and they could only go lower if the CBR went lower than the current 18%.

Borrowers are now servicing loans for rates ranging between 19% and 25%. The failed amendment would have seen a roof of 22% interest rate put on all loans given by commercial banks which is the agreeable 4 percentage point allowed based on the 18% CBR rate.