(Special for CAFS) Kenya's diaspora remittance inflows rise in August

Kenya's apex bank said Tuesday remittance inflows to the country rose by 3.2 percent to 132.9 million U.S. dollars in August from 128.8 million dollars in the same period in August 2014.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said in a statement released in Nairobi that the August inflows increased by 1.4 percent when compared to inflows in July.

According to CBK, remittance inflows from North America accounted for 48.3 percent of total inflows, and increased by 4.2 percent to 64.2 million dollars in August from 61.6 million dollars in July.

"Over the same period, inflows from Europe also increased by 1.1 percent to 36.7 million dollars from 36.3 million dollars," it said.

The statement said inflows from the rest of the world, however, declined by 3.0 percent to 32.1 million dollars from 33.1 million dollars in July.

"The 12 month cumulative inflows to August increased by 9.2 percent to 1.51 billion from 1.38 billion in the year to August 2014,"said the statement.

The apex bank said the 12 month average flow sustained an upward trend to 125.8 million dollars from 115.3 million dollars during the same period.

The East African nation has kicked off measures of tapping the lucrative diaspora investments which has increased in the recent past, seeking to address challenges facing the Kenyan diaspora as diaspora diplomacy is now one of the pillars of the country's Foreign Policy.

The authorities are focused on creating an enabling environment that will integrate the Kenyan diaspora and able them to invest in the nation's development.

A remittance is money sent by a person in a foreign land to his or her home country. Due to the huge sums involved, remittances are now being recognized as an important contributor to the country's growth and development. Endit