NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling weakened on Wednesday despite dollar sales by the central bank on the previous day because of an expected downturn in the key tourism sector after a deadly attack last week.
At 0830 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 92.60/80 to the dollar, from Tuesday's close of 92.55/65.
The shilling had recovered from an intraday low of 92.82/92 on Tuesday after the central bank sold an unspecified amount of dollars to banks to support the local currency.
Hoteliers in a country that counts tourism as one of its major foreign exchange earners say visitors have cancelled bookings after the al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab gunmen killed 148
people during the assault on Thursday.
Kenya's tourism industry has been in decline since 2013 when al Shabaab stormed an upscale shopping mall in the capital Nairobi, killing 67 people during a bloody four-day siege.
Traders said the negative outlook for tourism had put pressure on the shilling.
"Central bank was in the market, managed to slow down the weakening, though the trend looks weaker as we progress," a senior trader at one commercial bank said.
"With the terrorist attack we have a further slide on tourism; more cancellations, more travel advisories. That sector is going to really slow down."
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