Nairobi, June 4 -- A well-placed source recently told me that the government is at an advanced stage of considering plans to launch gold monetisation. Under the proposal, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) would buy locally mined gold using Kenya shillings and convert it into part of the country's official reserves.

Kenya has healthy foreign exchange reserves, estimated at $14 billion - approximately six months of import cover and well above the statutory limit. Projections indicate that after the Safaricom partial privatisation, Kenya's reserve position will hit $15 billion.

That CBK has maintained a robust foreign exchange reserve position sitting alongside an incredibly tight, highly strained domestic fiscal space; characterised by comp...