Individuals outside Kenya who are still in possession of the old 1,000 Kenyan Shilling currency notes, will have to bring them back into the country, in order to exchange with the new currency before the 1st of October 2019 deadline.
This is according to the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), Patrick Njoroge.
Dr. Patrick Njoroge, has ruled out any form of conversion of the old notes outside of Kenya’s borders, indicating that the regulator has already notified all foreign banks to stop recognising the legacy currency.
The Governor made it known that the regulator is also not providing any new generation bank notes to lenders outside the country to facilitate conversion, arguing that it would defeat the goal of combating illicit money flows which led to the decision to demonetise the old 1000 Kenyan Shillings currency notes.
Dr. Patrick Njoroge during a press briefing made it known that “If you have the Kenyan currency and you happen to be outside the country, there is only one way to get value for it before October 1. You have to take a trip here and go through the procedures outlined in the gazette notice and subsequent releases,”.
The Central Bank Of Kenya Governor added that, “You cannot convert it to any other currency out there, since this would defeat the process of demonetisation.”
Earlier in June 2019, Both the Bank of Uganda and the Bank of Tanzania issued notices earlier this month freezing the conversion of the old Kenyan notes in their banks. They have also advised their countries’ banks to subject all flows to higher due diligence processes.
The Kenyan shilling is commonly used to transact goods and services in neighbouring countries, especially now that East African Community rules allow free movement of people and goods across regional borders.
Those coming into the country to convert their notes will follow the same procedures laid out for locals.
Converting between 1 million Kenyan Shillings and 5 million Kenyan Shillings, will be carried out at all commercial bank branches, where customers are expected to make declarations on the source of their cash.
Persons exchanging more than 5 million Kenyan Shillings will need to get an endorsement from CBK, as will those exchanging more than 1 million Kenyan Shillings but do not have bank accounts.
