Kenyan business & markets, opened up

Know what's happening.
Understand what it means. Be ready when they ask.

Every week we take the business and markets stories that actually matter to Kenya, explain the mechanism underneath them in plain language, and turn each one into an answer you could give out loud in an interview.

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Free to read Every number sourced Built for Kenyan students

Where Kenya stands

as of 22 September 2026

Central Bank Rate

8.75^%

Held since 11 Aug

Next MPC meeting 7 October 2026

Central Bank of Kenya, MPC press release · 11 August 2026

Inflation (12-month)

6.59^%

Up from 6.49% in July

Was 4.39% in March. Sixth month of climbing.

Central Bank of Kenya inflation series (KNBS CPI) · August 2026

Real policy rate

2.16^pts

Was 4.36 pts in March

CBR minus 12-month inflation. Our calculation, not an official series.

Chanua KE calculation from CBK figures above · August 2026

USD / KES

Awaiting source

We publish the CBK indicative mean, dated. Until it is verified each week it stays empty rather than approximate.

Check it at CBK →

The gap

You already see the news. Nobody explains what it does to you.

Your feed is full of rate decisions, shilling headlines, budget numbers and company results. None of it tells you the thing you actually need: so what, for Kenya, for this sector, for the interview you have in three weeks.

That gap is the whole reason Chanua KE exists. Not more headlines — the mechanism underneath them, and the words to explain it.

How every story works

The same four steps, every single time

Why this order →

Once you have read a few, the structure does the teaching. You stop memorising stories and start recognising mechanisms — which is exactly what an interviewer is testing for.

01 What happened The event, the headline, the one number that actually matters.

02 Why Kenya cares Event → mechanism → Kenya → consequence. The chain, not the assertion.

03 What to watch Two to four things that decide what happens next — and the lesson underneath.

04 Interview edge The question you'll be asked, the thinking behind it, and thirty seconds of answer.

This week

The Brief

All issues →

Free Markets

CBK is holding. Inflation isn't.

The Central Bank Rate was 8.75% in April. It is 8.75% now. Inflation has gone from 4.4% to 6.6% in between. The gap between those two numbers is the most important thing in Kenyan finance right now, and almost nobody is explaining what it actually does to you.

21 Sept 2026 7 min read

Inside this issue

01 What the MPC actually decided
02 Why a rate that didn't move still loosened
03 The four things that decide October
04 The interview question, and 30 seconds of answer

Free, always

Learn the machinery

All explainers →

The Brief assumes you know how the pieces work. These explainers are where you learn them — no jargon, no prerequisites, no paywall, ever.

Free Markets

What exactly does the Central Bank of Kenya do?

Not "print money" and not "run the economy." CBK has four jobs, and once you can name them in order, most Kenyan financial news stops being confusing.

15 Sept 2026 3 min read

Free Business

How Kenyan banks actually make money

Three income lines, one of which everybody forgets. Once you can read a Kenyan bank's results in those three parts, you can read any bank's results anywhere.

12 Sept 2026 3 min read

Free Economics

Inflation isn't "things getting expensive"

It's a rate of change in a basket you didn't choose — which is why the official figure and your own experience of prices can both be right at the same time.

8 Sept 2026 3 min read

Use, don't just read

Tools

All tools →

Work out what actually lands in your account after PAYE, what a loan really costs, or whether your savings are beating inflation. No account, no signup, and every rate on the page shows you where it came from.

FreePractice

Interview Edge

Every question we publish, searchable — plus a practice mode that gives you thirty seconds and a question, which is what the room actually feels like.

FreeCalculator

Net pay calculator

What actually lands in your account after PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and the housing levy — with every step shown and every rate sourced.

FreeCalculator

What a loan really costs

Monthly repayment, total interest, and the full cost of borrowing on a reducing balance — the number lenders quote last.

Interview Edge

Understanding it is half the job. Saying it out loud is the other half.

Every story ends with the question an interviewer would build from it, the thinking they are testing, and thirty seconds of answer you can actually say. And every question we publish tells you where it came from — a real panel, a published framework, or one we wrote for practice.

We never blur those three. That is the whole point.

Practise with the clock Contribute a question

FreeCareers

The cover letter nobody skims

Four paragraphs, one specific reason, and no sentence that could appear in somebody else's letter — why most cover letters fail in the first line, and the structure that survives.

23 Sept 20264 min read

How we work

We show our work

Every number we print names the source that published it and the date. Where we calculate something ourselves, we say so. Where we cannot verify a figure, we leave the space empty rather than fill it with a guess — you will see that on this page.

Read the standards →

Help build the archive

What were you actually asked?

If you have sat a graduate or internship interview in Kenya, one question from it is worth a great deal to whoever sits that panel next year. We publish the question and the employer type — never your name.

Send us a question

Know what's happening. Understand what it means. Be ready when they ask.