Forex reserves held at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) increased by a marginal Sh7.7 billion ($71 million) in the week to April 22 mainly on export receipts, new data shows.

The CBK’s weekly bulletin shows the reserves stood at $7.727 billion (837.76 billion), up from $7.656 billion (Sh817.7 billion) on April 15.

“The usable foreign exchange reserves remained adequate at $7,727 million (4.75 months of import cover) as of April 22. This meets the CBK’s statutory requirement to endeavour to maintain at least four months of import cover, and the EAC (East African Community) region’s convergence criteria of 4.5 months of import cover,” said CBK in the weekly bulletin.

The growth in the foreign reserves has, however, slowed down compared to inflows in the week to April 15 that recorded a Sh24.67 billion ($231 million) increase from the previous week, following the disbursement of the first tranche of an International Monetary Fund loan facility to the government.

According to Churchill Ogutu, head of research at Genghis Capital this week’s uptick remains insignificant but could be partly attributed to multilateral loans and receipts from exports.

“The amount is very marginal and we doubt if there was any significant inflows in terms of inflows from debt. The government has also been tight-lipped on these financial flows,” he said.

The country receives the foreign currency inflows from external loans in hard currency, export and tourism receipts and diaspora remittances.

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