As the curtains close on 2023, Kenya finds itself standing at a crossroads. It has been a year etched with the indelible ink of challenges and triumphs, a tapestry woven with threads of economic anxieties, political transitions, and unwavering hope for a New Kenya. The Kenyan shilling, battered by the lingering economic aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, the tremors of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and the distant rumbles of the Israel-Hamas conflict, took a significant hit against the dollar.
This depreciation, reaching Sh155 per dollar in December 2023, has been a major blow to the nation's economic stability. This economic hiccup, inherited by the newly formed government led by William Ruto, cast a long shadow on the nation's progress.