Nairobi, March 8 -- Cash-flush firms and individuals have beaten commercial banks, pension schemes and insurers to become the biggest source of new lending to the government so far in this financial year at Sh294.3 billion on the back of rising returns and rollout of an online central bank trading platform.

The retail investors, referred to as "others", account for slightly more than three-quarters of fresh cash the Treasury has borrowed locally since the start of the current fiscal year through February to bridge the deficit in the budget.

Analysis of the latest government's domestic debt data shows retail investors have injected Sh294.35 billion into Treasury bonds and bills.

This is after investors -largely composed of individuals, ...