‘Poverty’ to blame for worn out bank notes, says senator

 

By Judah Ben-Hur 

 “I think we understand why the Sh50 bank note circulates quickly. Matatu fare and other transactions we see on the road are normally Sh50 and the lower denomination notes are subject to significant mishandling,” said Njoroge.

The CBK governor stated that following the launch of the new-generation notes in 2019, many people engaged in destructive testing, which involved crumbling the notes to see what happens.

Senator Nyamunga said poverty also contributes to mishandling of the currency notes as some people crumble and hide them in pockets and knots in clothes.

She urged the CBK to boost quality of the notes to cut the expense of printing new ones.

“50 bob is the lowest currency note and it’s the fastest moving. Governor, you should do something about it,” said Nyamunga.

In 2019, the government invested Sh15 billion in the rollout of the new-generation currency notes and taking the old ones out of the market.

Nominated Senator Millicent Omanga questioned Njoroge on the bank's use of an additional Sh833 million in currency generation in the financial year 2019/2020 compared to Sh2.3 billion used in the financial year 2018/2019.

“We launched the currency in June 2019 and in the next four months, we withdrew the Sh1,000 note. That was costly,” said Njoroge.The anti-trust agency is looking into whether Diageo, AB InBev, Castel and Heineken have violated the rules set for trading within the trading block.

The financing is meant to facilitate the procurement of more vaccines through the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team