According to Reuters, the Kenyan shilling has held steady against the dollar on Monday.  The shilling may however weaken as the end of the month approaches as imports could put downward pressure on the shilling. The main imports expected are oil and oil products.

What does this mean to the average Kenyan?

This means that the cost of imported products may rise as the end of the month draw nearer. This is because should the shilling weaken as anticipated producers will spend more producing goods and services. Consequently so as to compensate themselves for the increased cost they push this increment to consumers by increasing the price of their goods accordingly. This would lead to inflation.

This is not good news as this comes a week after the Energy Regulatory Commission increased the price of fuel nationwide. This also has an effect on production costs and the price people will pay for goods. As the end of the month approaches it will be worthwhile to note what the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics quotes the inflation rate as, I highly suspect it will be higher than the 15.61% KNBS reported for the month of March.