Money & Movement: Kenya's remittances slip off a record — and the Gulf is the wild card
April inflows fell 5.9% from a year earlier, and a World Bank warning flags up to US$40m a month at risk from Middle East conflict.
Kenya’s diaspora remittances eased to about US$397.8 million in April 2026, down 5.9% from a year earlier and 11.7% off the all-time monthly high set in March, according to Central Bank of Kenya data reported by The Kenyan Wall Street. The pullback was broad-based, with North America — which supplies just over half of monthly flows — posting the sharpest drop. The World Bank’s April 2026 Africa Economic Update warned that Kenya could lose up to US$40 million a month from Gulf remittances given Middle East conflict, citing roughly 500,000 Kenyans working in Gulf states.
For the Kenyan diaspora and the families they support, the headline is less the one-month dip — a seasonal step back from a record is normal — than the structural risk hanging over the Gulf corridor. Remittances are now Kenya’s largest single source of foreign exchange, so disruptions abroad feed straight into the shilling and household budgets at home.
Sources: The Kenyan Wall Street (May 2026); Business Daily Africa; World Bank Africa Economic Update (April 2026).