Kenya Has Spent Nearly $1 Billion in Reserves to Weather Iran War Shock

Kenya has spent nearly $1 billion of its hard-currency reserves since the war began, and is prepared to deploy more of its firepower to curb excessive weakness in the shilling, central bank governor Kamau Thugge said Thursday.

Authorities used about $941 million in the four weeks to April 2, he said. That has helped keep the shilling at around 129 per dollar, within a narrow band where it’s traded for nearly two years. While the currency briefly weakened beyond 130 earlier this week amid a global market selloff, it traded around 129.20 against the greenback on Thursday, about 0.5% firmer on the day.