No dollar, no problem: Kenya now buying fuel in local currency - President Ruto

Kenyan president William Ruto has announced that the dollar exchange rate in the East African nation will plummet soon citing a number of economic interventions.

Key among them is that his country was currently buying their fuel needs in the local Kenyan Shillings from some suppliers.

In a video circulating on social media platforms, Ruto is heard praising members of his economic advisory team who: “managed to put together a programme that has taken us away from looking for USD500 million every month to buy our fuel needs, which was slowly snowballing into a crisis.

“Today, as a country we can buy fuel in Kenyan Shillings, something that many people never thought it will be possible… from this month of April, all our fuel marketers, they will be able to buy our fuel products in Kenyan shillings,” he revealed at an event.

He continued that the new arrangement will, “remove pressure on our dollars. In fact, in the next few months, we will see the exchange rate coming down in a very phenomenal way,” he stressed.

“Are we seeing a new and sustainable global paradigm of de-dollarisation?” Gabby posted in a tweet dated April 16.

The dollar has in recent months come under severe scrutiny in its position as the main medium of global trade, Brazilian president Lula da Silva recently questioned the ‘might’ of the dollar asking why countries cannot trade in their own currencies.

Are we seeing a new and sustainable global paradigm of de-dollarisation? pic.twitter.com/nfoiYWTbB7

— Gabby Otchere-Darko (@GabbyDarko) April 16, 2023