Kenya Commercial Bank In Aweil Running Short Of Hard Currency

 

By Agoth Abraham

AWEIL, September 6, 2015 [Gurtong] – Most of the KCB customers who use the dollar account services are stranded waiting for the supply of dollars from the main bank in Juba.

James Lual, a USD account customer at KCB in Aweil branch says he is frustrated because he has been unable to receive his last months’ salary.

“This is completely unfair for the bankers like KCB to have such important banking services falling short without realizing that they are the only commercial bank operating in Aweil. How can we wait for two or more weeks now without getting our salaries and yet, this money was transferred on time by our employer?” James Lual who works for an International Organization based in Northern Bahr el Ghazal told Gurtong at KCB premises on Monday.

Abuk Garang another customer who works for the International Rescue Committee [IRC] also expressed her dissatisfaction for being told that there was no USD available in the bank.

“This is the first time the bank is lacking hard currency, and this has affected us as customers a lots because our monthly pay relies on the availability of hard currency so that we go and sell at the black market for sustaining our children.” She reiterated.

Meanwhile an official from KCB who who spoke to us on condition of anonymity confirmed the shortage of the USD in the bank.

“Yes, it is true that we have been running short of dollars since last week and we have been trying to convince our customers to wait patiently until we get another transfer from Juba anytime. The only problem is that, even Juba themselves are lacking the rotation of hard currencies. May be this is something that the National bank, our main supplier has to look into it otherwise, there is no alternative to this if no immediate action is taken on it.”