Every country with its own currency has a central bank that sets a policy rate: the price of money. In Kenya it is the Central Bank Rate (CBR), set by the Central Bank of Kenya’s Monetary Policy Committee. On 5 October 2026 the Central Bank’s website showed it at 8.75%, set on 11 August 2026.
How it reaches you
- The Central Bank sets the rate at which it lends to and takes money from banks.
- Short-term rates follow. Banks lend to each other, and the government borrows through Treasury bills, at rates close to the CBR.
- Bank rates follow, more slowly. What banks pay on deposits and charge on loans moves in the same direction over the following months.
- Your money is affected: your savings rate, your loan rate, and, over time, prices and jobs.
Why the Central Bank moves it
- To cool prices: when inflation runs high, raising the rate makes borrowing dearer, so people and firms spend less and prices calm down.
- To help the economy: when inflation is low and growth weak, cutting the rate makes borrowing cheaper and encourages spending and investment.
What the last two years showed
When rates fell from 2024 to 2026, Kenyan banks cut what they pay savers by more than what they charge borrowers: see savers lost twice what borrowers gained. A cut in the CBR does not reach every pocket equally.
Across Africa
Every central bank does the same job under its own name: the Monetary Policy Rate in Ghana, Zambia and Nigeria, the SARB policy rate in South Africa (long known as the repo rate), the MIMO rate in Mozambique, overnight deposit and lending rates in Egypt. On 5 October 2026 they ranged from 6.25% in Tanzania to 24.00% in Malawi. Why they differ so much: why lending to one African government pays 6% and another 25%.
Where to follow it
- Every African central bank’s rate, beside its one-year bill: policy rates.
- The committee meets about every two months; the Central Bank publishes each decision on its website.
Information, not advice.