Nairobi bourse feels the heat of dollar scarcity as global economic shocks hit

By JAMES ANYANZWA

Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has found itself in a crisis attributed to scarcity of US dollars in the forex market.

The EastAfrican has learnt that the bourse managers are concerned with the drop in supply of the US currency with fears that it could hit foreigners who control more than 50 percent of the daily trading activity on the stockmarket.

The latest development has been compounded by the Russian-Ukraine crisis which has injected negative shocks to the global economy with spillover effects witnessed in other economies, manifested mainly through commodity price hikes.

“Obviously it is not good for foreigners. I think one of the reasons why Kenya has been an attractive investment destination is that we have a liberal foreign currency regime where you can at least take forex in and out. So when you begin to have this kind of restriction it does affect the appetite of foreign investors in the…