Nairobi, Aug. 3 -- Vodacom and the World Bank have wired a combined Sh337.6 billion into government accounts, helping lift Kenya's foreign exchange reserves to a record $15.4 billion (Sh1.99 trillion), new data shows.

The government received $1.86 billion (Sh240.5 billion) from the sale of a 15 percent stake in Safaricom and a $750 million (Sh97.1 billion) from the World Bank after the multilateral lender unfroze the billions.

This increased the reserve from $13.9billion (Sh1.8 trillion) on July 23, translating to a $1.5 billion (Sh194.1 billion) weekly jump.

The reserves stand at an equivalent of 6.4 months of import cover, surpassing Central Bank of Kenya's (CBK's) statutory requirements and East African Community limit of at least f...