Deadline for Withdrawal of Old Sh1,000 Notes Expires at Midnight on Monday

The deadline for the withdrawal of old-generation Sh1,000 notes expires at midnight on Monday even as Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) maintains the period will not be extended.

The old Sh1,000 notes will become obsolete after midnight, meaning they will be useless pieces of papers, CBK Dr. Governor Patrick Njoroge said.

“This is it! Leo ni leo!” CBK tweeted on Monday morning.

On June 1st, the government asked Kenyans to exchange the old notes with the new banknotes unveiled by President Kenyatta during Madaraka Day celebrations at Narok Stadium.

Njoroge indicated that the phasing out of the Sh1,000 note will help curb cases of counterfeits that have been on the rise in the country.

The old-generation Sh50, Sh100, Sh200, and Sh500 bills will remain in circulation alongside the new currency notes and will be phased out gradually.

By September 1st, Kenyans had returned 100 million pieces of the old series of one thousand shilling notes out of the 217.6 million pieces that were in circulation before June 1st, 2019, CBK said.

Kenyans holding amounts below Sh5 million in old Sh1,000 can swap them at any commercial bank in the country while amounts exceeding Sh5 million can be exchanged at CBK headquarters in Nairobi.