Just as a thought, I would like to suggest to Kenyan's as borrowers or potential borrowers not to over rely on the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) measure of general interest rates. The reason is more mathematical and I would like you to bear with me on this one. The CBK calculates the interest rates you see in news and in the CBK reports using the weighed average method. The formula is


Weighed interest rate = S(Qi/D)ri
Where, S = Summation over all the loans a bank is making
ri = Rate of interest that the ith borrower pays
Qi - The loan amount for the ith borrower
D = Total loan amounts for all the accounts which is the sum of Qi

You probably will not need to understand the above but it could help. The reason I am putting up this post is to advice or warn that the interest rates given in the news are not likely to apply to you when you go and apply for a loan. They may not even be a good guide as to what rate you may get. The reason to this is that the above formula as sound as it is, will inherently tend to have bias towards bigger borrowers who are usually given loans at below prime rates. An example is that if Safaricom want to borrow to expand their network coverage, they will go to the bank and ask for cash. If the interest rate at the bank is quoted at 15%, then they will get prime - say 3% meaning that they get the loan at 12%. This could be due to the fact that they generate good cash and usually earn their interest many times over. However a small borrower could be quoted a rate of prime + 3 meaning that he gets 18%. This then if applied to the formula will tend to lean more to Safaricom's rate as it will take out a bigger loan than you will.

Therefore, be watchful over such discrepancies when you next go to the bank asking for a loan.