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Recent Topicals

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Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) review

Oct 13, 2024

For 58 years, the Kenyan government has offered health insurance to its citizens through The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). The fund was established in 1966 through an act of parliament, with a core mandate of providing affordable medical insurance coverage to all Kenyans. However, years later, the state of public healthcare in the country remained below par, with inefficiencies that have led to repeated civil actions, inequality in health care provision, sub-par infrastructure, and a host of other challenges.  In 2017, the Kenyan government made a strong commitment to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) as one of the Big 4 Agenda by the year 2022 and started designing and implementing priority reforms to accelerate progress. This was then picked up by the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda, which also set out universal health care as one of its plans. These reforms included the following: Increasing the sha...

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The State of Credit Availability in Kenya’s Private Sector

Sep 29, 2024

The private sector in Kenya plays a crucial role in the country's economic development, as improved access to private sector credit translates to real GDP growth in the country. Access to credit is essential for businesses to grow, innovate, and remain competitive; and understanding the current state of credit availability in Kenya's private sector is vital for identifying the gaps and opportunities for improvement. According to the latest data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), credit extended to the private sector in Kenya registered a minimal 4.0% growth as of June 2024, highlighting a slower pace of growth and underscoring the need for policy measures to stimulate lending and support business expansion. With the government currently seeking to reduce its fiscal deficit, creating an enabling environment to stimulate private sector gr...

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The Kenyan National Social Security Fund (NSSF)

Sep 22, 2024

National Social Security schemes are created by governments to form the first pillar of social security. In Africa, Kenya was the second country after Ghana to form a national security scheme, The National Social Security Fund (NSSF), done in 1965 through an Act of Parliament (Cap 258). It is a provident fund, which provides benefits to retiring members as a lump sum rather than through periodic payments. In recent years, discussions around the growth and reform of the NSSF have gained momentum, with key considerations on how to increase coverage, especially for the informal sector, and improve service delivery. The fund has also faced a number of challenges in recent years, with concerns about mismanagement, corruption, and inefficiencies often overshadowing the fund’s broader mission and leading to a decline in public confidence. Most recently, the fund was in the news for yet to be quantified losses associated with questionable bond trading. As such, we saw it fit to cover...

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Kenya Listed Banks H1’2024 Report

Sep 15, 2024

Following the release of the H1’2024 results by Kenyan listed banks, the Cytonn Financial Services Research Team undertook an analysis on the financial performance of the listed banks and identified the key factors that shaped the performance of the sector. For the earnings notes of the various banks, click the links below: Equity Group H1’2024 Earnings Note KCB Group H1’2024 Earnings Note Standard Chartered Bank Kenya H1’2024 Earnings Note ABSA Bank Kenya H1’2024 Ea...

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Retirement Benefits Schemes Q2’2024 Performance Report

Sep 8, 2024

According to the ACTSERV Q2’2024 Retirement Benefits Schemes Investments Performance Survey, segregated retirement benefits schemes recorded a 6.6% return in Q2’2024, up from the 0.1% recorded in Q2’2023. The increase was largely supported by the performance of fixed income investments made by the schemes which recorded an 8.0% gain, 7.3% points above from the 0.7% return recorded in Q2’2023, on the back of declining interest rates across the yield curve, occasioned by easing inflation, decreased government domestic borrowing appetite and the relatively stable exchange rate. This week, we shall focus on understanding Retirement Benefits Schemes and look into the quarterly performance and current state of retirement benefits schemes in Kenya with a key focus on Q2’2024. In our previous

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