Nairobi, March 11 -- Money available to banks for investments and lending has increased as deposits rise on improved interest rates, coming after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) rate hikes that drove up returns on fixed savings.

The CBK's Credit Officer Survey done in December last year and published Thursday last week, which polled the 39 commercial banks in the country, reveals that liquidity has generally improved for 62 percent of banks, making available to them more cash for their activities.

The rise in liquidity was primarily attributed to increased deposits, which accounted for 65 percent of the improvement, according to the survey. Other factors that drove it include a step-up of loan recovery efforts, maturity of government se...