The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has moved to clear the air over confusion around old notes, saying they are still valid and should be accepted in daily transactions.
This follows complaints from traders, including a viral video of a businesswoman who said customers were refusing to accept older KSh500 notes.
In a response, CBK said the old KSh500 note is still legal tender and urged both traders and customers to stop rejecting it.
“To businesses that encounter customers who don’t want to interact with old banknotes, talk to them and make them understand that these still remain legal tenders. If it becomes a big problem, then visit the nearest bank and get the new generation banknotes,” a CBK official said.
The confusion started after the trader shared her frustration online, saying she was struggling to use the older KSh500 notes. According to her, even when she tried to pass them on, customers and sometimes suppliers would reject them, fearing they would also be turned away elsewhere.
At one point, she even called on CBK and the government to remove the old notes completely, saying the situation was making business difficult.
But CBK insists there is no need to panic.
The regulator explained that while old notes are being phased out, there is no set deadline for their removal. Instead, the process is gradual.
“Once we receive the old series notes, we are not releasing them to the market again; instead, we release the new series notes. Though there is no timeline to entirely remove the older notes from circulation, it will just happen over time,” the official added.
This means that when people deposit old notes in banks, they are replaced with newer ones, slowly reducing the number of old notes in circulation.
CBK also encouraged Kenyans holding older notes at home or in their businesses to use them in transactions or deposit them in banks.
The bank clarified that all old notes are still valid except the old KSh1,000 note, which was withdrawn from circulation in 2019.
No other denomination, including KSh500 and KSh200 notes, has been scrapped.
CBK is now urging the public to understand which notes are still in use to avoid unnecessary confusion and disruption in business.
