The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Wednesday announced the release of a new and updated series of banknotes.
The new notes will also come with at least four changes in them.
In the announcement, CBK said the notes will be in circulation alongside the current ones.
All denominations will be 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,” CBK said on Tuesday.
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 Dr Chris Kiptoo.
The other changes will be the year of print, 2024, and a new security thread with colour changes to each denomination.
The Central Bank of Kenya said it has released the updated series of banknotes starting with Sh1,000.
“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.”
The new general banknotes were launched during the 2019 Madaraka Day celebrations, by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Uhuru and former CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge had in December 2018 also launched the new generation coins that are currently in use.
Origin
Kenya used British currency. The currency that was introduced by the Britons was the rupee, the colonial currency of India and many other British holdings.
The rupee was replaced by East African florin in 1920, which only lasted a year before being replaced by the East African shilling.
The British pound, before it was decimalized, was divided into 20 shillings. In British East Africa, the smaller shilling became the de facto currency of use – rather than the larger, more expensive pound.
Independence occurred on December 12, 1963, and Kenya was proclaimed in 1964.
But the East African shilling remained the newly formed country’s currency.
A second East African currency was proposed as a common currency for the East African Community.
The newly established EACB introduced an intermediate currency based on the English Florin with the thought that it would ease the transformation from Rupee to Shilling.
The Florin would be the same size and shape as the Rupee and also be of a silver substrate.
It wasn’t until 1966 that the Kenyan shilling replaced the East African shilling at a rate of 1 to 1 in 1966.
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