The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) will face a fresh test at the monetary policy meeting today as the economy continues to be battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The apex bank is expected at the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting to assess the impact of a raft of measures it rolled out on March 23 to help the economy blunt and navigate the effects of the pandemic while possibly announcing new ones.

Kenya on Monday confirmed eight new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 363.

A team of experts from the University of Nairobi has drafted several legislative proposals to aid government in the management of global pandemic Covid-19.

The University’s Centre for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law & Policy (CASELAP) is among twenty global networks recently launched to tackle global challenges.

Funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Global Challenges Research Fund, CASELAP is set to develop practical solutions to address issues such as the prevalence of single-use plastic in Kenya while the other networks will tackle hurricane recovery in the Caribbean and water management across Africa among others.

Acting Director General Communication Authority Mercy Wanjau on Thursday said that in this case the fraudsters are purporting to be part of the authority and are cautioning recipients that they have exceeded the maximum numbers of sim cards allowed per subscriber.

The fraudsters are equally creating and sharing links on social media where they can trick the subscribers into sharing their ID, usernames, passwords, PIN and credit card details to steal money from them.

The directive comes after Uganda reported that five Kenyan truck drivers had tested positive of the disease.  

KRA Commissioner Customs and Border Control Kevin Safari in a statement said that it will co-operate with the East African authorities to ensure the directive is implemented.

The amended law, which mainly targets low-income earners, includes a 100 per cent Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax relief for employees earning less than Sh28,000 per month and further lowers turnover tax rate from 3 per cent to 1 per cent.

Those earning above the new threshold will benefit from a PAYE tax reduction of 5 per cent.

Similarly, the new Act has revised Corporation Tax to 25 per cent while Non-Resident Tax on Dividends has been adjusted from 10 to 15 per cent.

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor Patrick Njoroge in a gazette notice dated April 9, 2020 said Kendy Money Transfer Ltd’s licence was revoked on February 14, 2020.

It was not immediately clear why the CBK withdrew the licence.

The firm enables customers to send money and make payments in Africa and abroad.

An analysis of government revenue data published by Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani on Friday shows that total tax receipts in the January to March 2020 period amounted to nearly Sh340.67 billion, largely unchanged from Sh339.27 billion in the same period a year ago.

This is equivalent to Sh1.4 billion, or 0.41 percent, growth over the same period in 2019.

Companies reported a sharp slump in orders during the three-month period, with overall business deals in private sector hitting lowest levels in more than two years, according to a closely watched monthly survey.

Speaking during its inaugural webinar, Octagon Pension Services managing director Godwin Simba said Kenya could benefit from using technology riding on a cloud-based model that facilitates in-house transactions as well as linkages to external stakeholders.

“Organisations must embrace technology and have a strong research and development team that foresees adverse scenarios beforehand by analysing data thereby helping pension scheme take pro-active measures that safeguards member savings,” he said.

Data from the CBK shows that the shilling opened Friday at an average 107.24 units to the dollar in contrast with the previous Friday’s level of 106.20 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has hurt export trade and slowed down Diaspora remittances.

This has, in turn, reduced the stock of dollar reserves.

The Friday opening performance meant that the shilling had shed 4.7 percent of its value since March 12 when the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Kenya. It exchanged at 102.42 against the dollar at the time.