Dr. Patrick Njoroge was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) on June 19, 2015. He is the first CBK Governor to be recruited through a competitive selection process that included vetting and approval by Parliament.  In this capacity as Governor, Dr. Njoroge is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the CBK, a member of the Board of Directors, and Chairman of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

Dr. Njoroge has worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, in various capacities for over 20 years.  Prior to his appointment as Central Bank Governor, he was Advisor to the IMF Deputy Managing Director, a position he had held since December 2012. In this capacity, his responsibilities included assisting in overseeing the IMF’s engagement with IMF member countries. He also served as Deputy Division Chief in the IMF’s Finance Department between 2006 and 2012, IMF’s Mission Chief for the Commonwealth of Dominica between 2005 and 2006, and in other capacities since 1995. Previously, he had worked in Kenya as an Economist at the Ministry of Finance, and as a Planning Officer at the Ministry of Planning.

Dr. Njoroge joined the CBK at a time of considerable instability in the economy, including rising inflation and unhinged inflation expectations, a rapidly weakening currency amid concerns over the current account deficit, and high interest rates. Under his stewardship, the CBK moved decisively to deal with these issues, by adopting a tighter monetary policy stance, improving liquidity management, and strengthening market discipline. The CBK also had to deal with problems that emerged in three non-systemic banks.  Dr. Njoroge remains keen to further strengthen the Kenyan banking sector through the adoption of “the New Normal” underpinned by greater transparency, stronger governance, and effective business models to boost the resilience of banks, reduce costs and support innovation.

Dr. Njoroge was named Africa’s Governor of the Year 2016 by African Banker Awards during the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) Annual Meetings in May 2016. Dr. Njoroge holds a PhD degree in Economics from Yale University, in addition to Masters and Bachelor’s degrees Economics from the University of Nairobi. Dr. Njoroge’s professional and research interests are in the areas of macroeconomics, international finance, development economics, econometrics and monetary policy.