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You Might Want to Get Rid of the Old Banknotes As Soon As Possible.

Enterprise Team

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If you are still holding an old Sh.1000, you might encounter difficulties in making any transactions from 26th September at different retail centers and also banks, petrol stations, matatus and telecoms.

Central Bank of Kenya  ordered for the return of the old generation Sh1,000 notes during Madaraka Day celebrations on June 1, 2019 when the new generation banknotes were unveiled.

The business community says that they will need enough time to exchange the old notes, despite the notice given by the Central Bank of Kenya.

Safaricom, the largest telecommunication company notifys its users of the inability to buy airtime or make M-pesa deposits from any Safaricom outlets using the old bill.

“Following the demonetization of Sh1,000 note, we advise that the last day to collect the old currency at Safaricom shops will be Thursday,” reads a notice from Safaricom’s regional operations noticeboard.

The CEO of Kenya Bankers Association, Habil Olaka says that Kenyans are still able to trade in their old notes from any commercial bank before close of business on September 30.

“If one has a million shillings or less, they can be able to walk into any bank and change the money. However, if they have more than a million then it’s advised to exchange the notes at the bank they bank with, if not they are to seek clearance from CBK,” he said.

According to the statistics from Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) it shows that more than 150 million pieces of the old Sh1000 notes have been exchanged so far.

The introduction of the new banknotes was meant to cause a disruption in the multi billion-shilling fake currency business in Kenya and across the region.

As the old Sh.1000 notes are to be deprived of it’s value, the old Sh. 50, Sh.100, Sh.200 and Sh.500 will be phased out with time.

Kenya is not the first country to go down this route. India, Zimbabwe, Ghana, United Kingdom, North Korea, Pakistan, and Australia are just but a few of the countries that have tried changing their currencies. To some, this step has had a positive impact while to others it has had an undesirable effect.

Pakistan in 2016, Australia in 1996, UK 2002 and Zibambwe attempted in 2015 and succeeded having considered using the US dollar.

In 1982, Ghana also tried out this move when it ditched its 50 cedis note to deal with rampant tax evasion and empty excess liquidity. It had the downside of fueling a currency black market.

North Korea attempted this in 2010 but ended up not meeting the citizen’s basic needs such a food and shelter after Kim-Jong ll knocked off two zeros from the face value of the old currency in order to kick out the black market.

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