George Obulutsa | NAIROBI

Kenya’s central bank governor said on Tuesday he saw the current account deficit rising to 5.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2017 from an estimated 5.3 percent in 2016.

“We continue to project a deficit of 5.8 percent for the year,” Governor Patrick Njoroge told a news conference.

Njoroge was speaking a day after the central bank held its benchmark lending rate at 10.0 percent, saying its policy stance had reduced the threat of demand-driven inflation.

In January, the bank said it expected the current account deficit to be in the order of 5.3 percent of GDP in 2016, lower from 6.8 percent in 2015.

In the year to February, Kenya’s current account deficit widened to 5.8 percent of GDP from 5.5 percent in the same month a year earlier.

(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Catherine Evans)