Kenya has contracted a German firm to print new notes following the move by UK-based firm De La Rue to end its operations in the country.
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Kamau Thugge revealed this Wednesday without providing more details about it including its name.
“It is actually one of the best firms,” he said.
De La Rue suspended its business in the country a year ago citing reduced orders and poor economic climate raising fears of a possible shortage of the banknotes.
The then governor Patrick Njoroge, however, maintained that there was adequate supply of the currency notes including the coins in the country.
“The currency needs are completely fulfilled and so the move will not affect the supply,” he said.
While addressing the press following the release of new banknotes with added features, Thugge noted that they had projected that there could be a stock out of Sh1,000 notes around July and August.
“It was really necessary that we get new notes as quickly as possible and this is just the normal business of the Central Bank,” he stated.
He said they released the updated series of banknotes starting with Sh1,000.
According to the CBK, the notes will be in circulation alongside the current ones with all denominations being affected by the changes.
"The Bank has made some changes to the denominations one hundred shillings (Sh100), two hundred shillings (Sh200), five hundred shillings (Sh500) and one thousand shillings (Sh1,000) currency banknotes," a statement read.
The changes made include a new signature for the Governor, which will be that of current CBK boss Kamau Thugge, as well as that of the Member of the Board, who will now be Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo.
The other changes will be the year of print, 2024, and a new security thread with colour changes to each denomination.
"The rest of the features remain the same as those of the series issued in 2019," CBK added.
"Release of the banknotes will commence with Sh1,000, while other denominations will progressively follow in the coming months."
