Kenya’s central bank is poised to raise borrowing costs for the first time in 3 1/2 years to stop inflation from breaching government targets and bolster a weakening currency.
The Monetary Policy Committee will lift the benchmark rate by 100 basis points to 9.5 percent at a meeting on Tuesday, according to nine out of 12 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The other three expect a 50-basis-point hike from 8.5 percent, where it’s been held since May 2013. An index of Kenyan shilling bonds is losing more money for dollar investors than most emerging markets in the first quarter as yields on 10-year debt jumped to their highest level in about 17 months.
