The Kenya Shilling has had a rather interesting last three months. The Kenyan currency has lost about 3.271% of its value versus the US dollar. Interestingly however, the Kenya Shilling has gained 2.042% against the Euro in the same time.
Below are two graphs showing the various movements:
The upward movement of the US Dollar against the Kenya Shilling means that the shilling has been weakening while the dollar has been strengthening. Simply put, Kenyans have been paying more shillings for one dollar.
On the other hand, the Euro has generally had a downward slope against the Kenya Shilling. This means that the Euro has been weakening versus the Euro and Kenyans have been paying less for the Euro.
The strengthening of the dollar can be attributed to the issues in Europe whereby international investors, on the backdrop of Greek economic and political uncertainties and fears of it spreading to Spain, Portugal and other countries, have been converting their assets to dollar denominations. This has caused the dollar to strengthen world over. The strengthening dollar may cause increases in the prices of imported goods. This would be particularly bad for Kenyan motorists and commuters who have to pay higher transport costs every other day because of rising fuel costs.