The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has today released Shs 7.4 billion to support Government efforts to contain the spread of Coronavirus in the country.

Speaking at State House, Nairobi, during President Kenyatta’s meeting with the private sector, CBK Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge said the money was gained from the mop-up of the old 1000 shillings bank notes.

“As you recall in September last year we concluded the demonetization of our currency relating to our old generation one thousand bank notes. That matter was concluded and as a result of that, Shs 7.4 billion worth of bank notes never came back to the system.

“That money would have been held by people who, for whatever reason, did not want to subject themselves to the checks that were in place. So most likely this was money that might have been illicitly acquired through the various channels that we have talked about in other forums,” the CBK Governor said.

Dr Njoroge said the bank is giving back the money to boost the government’s efforts to combat the Coronavirus pandemic.

President Kenyatta thanked CBK for the contribution and directed Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani to ensure the money is used to support Kenyans to overcome the current health crisis.

“That money goes to help our health facilities and our health workers,” the President said.

He added: “That again is something we appreciate and this is what I mean when I say Kenyans working together can achieve miracles.”

During the meeting, the President announced a further Shs 1 billion allocation by the Government for hiring of more health workers needed to increase the country’s capacity to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic.

He said the additional funds will ensure the government brings on board enough manpower to support those already in the field working to save lives.

The President’s meeting with the private sector representatives discussed a raft of other measures being taken to cushion the country from the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Key among the interventions is an announcement by the Head of State that outstanding VAT refunds and pending bills would be settled within 30 days.

The President said VAT refunds and settlement of pending bills will help improve cash flow and keep businesses afloat.

“Critically, we all recognize that the volume of business has gone down. We need to ensure that we have cash flow to be able to keep ourselves afloat as we go through these trying times,” the President said.

He said the Government had lifted a ban on its entities from holding conferences and seminars in private hotels so as to keep the hospitality sector vibrant.

“As you are well aware we had put a ban on government officials holding meetings in hotels and said only government institutions are the ones to host various seminars by government.

“Again we have lifted that temporarily until this is over so that our hotel beds get occupancy and you in turn are able to keep your workers employed,” the President said.

Once again, the President thanked the media for its leading role in information dissemination and public health education on the Coronavirus pandemic.

He said the media had distinguished itself as a valuable partner in efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

Following yesterday’s directive, the Head of State said the Government had released 400,000 litres of ethanol, impounded by the multi-agency team on contraband goods, to oil companies for the blending of hand sanitizers to be distributed free of charge to the public.

On its part, the private sector, through the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) Chairman Nick Nesbitt and CEO Carole Kariuki, committed to continue protecting Kenyan employees against job losses and safeguarding SMEs from the adverse effects the current crisis by ensuring business and supply chain continuity.

The private sector further committed to prioritize the health and safety of employees, communities and health workers through increased Corporate Social Responsibility activities. The meeting was attended by several Cabinet Secretaries among other senior Government officials.

Earlier, the President held talks with representatives of the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) Apparel and Textile Sector during which he commended the sector for their efforts in minimizing job losses during this crisis period.

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Government will quarantine all cash from local banks for a period of one week, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor Patrick Njoroge has said.

The move is part of precautionary measures being undertaken by the state to avoid the spread of COVID-19 which is also transmitted through cash exchange.

The CBK governor has further encouraged Kenyans to adopt mobile money transfers in their daily transaction to minimize the chances of spreading the virus.

Following a meeting with commercial banks on Monday, March 16, 2020, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has announced a set of measures that commercial banks will undertake in order to alleviate the adverse economic effects their customers may face from the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). While the extent of the adverse effects are still evolving, it is already evident that the impact on some of the customers may be severe.

To help alleviate the adverse effects, the following emergency measures will apply for borrowers whose loan repayments were up to date as at March 2, 2020.

1. Banks will seek to provide relief to borrowers on their personal loans based on their individual circumstances arising from the pandemic.
2. To provide relief on personal loans, banks will review requests from borrowers for extension of their loan for a period of up to one year. To initiate this process, borrowers should contact their respective banks.

1. Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporate borrowers can contact their banks for assessment and restructuring of their loans based on their respective circumstances arising from the pandemic.
2. Banks will meet all the costs related to the extension and restructuring of loans.
3. To facilitate increased use of mobile digital platforms, banks will waive all charges for balance inquiry.
4. As earlier announced, all charges for transfers between mobile money wallets and bank accounts will be eliminated.

CBK will closely monitor the implementation of these measures, particularly in light of the fast-evolving nature of the economic impact of the pandemic.

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The Governor of Central Bank of Kenya Patrick Njoroge has been named the Central Bank Governor of the Year for Sub-Saharan Africa.

The annual award by GlobalMarkets magazine recognises exemplary individual effort by CBK managers across the world.

Njoroge was awarded for improvements in the banking sector in Kenya during his tenure and for helping the expansion of Kenya’s domestic capital markets.

”Njoroge has presided over a period of consolidation within the Kenyan banking sector that has helped clean up the country’s banks and vastly improve oversight over the sector. Banks have tightened their lending standards in response, thanks to the central bank’s oversight,” GlobalMarkets said.

In a statement to media houses, the apex bank said the award reinforces Njoroge’s high acclaim amongst central bank managers in the continent and globally, having scooped the same award in 2016.

While accepting the award, Njoroge recognised the work done by CBK staff, and pointed to the ongoing work in support of the innovation and green finance.

He dedicated the award to the youth of Africa.

Njoroge is serving his second term as CBK governor, having been reappointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in June for another period of four years.

He has been on the forefront of fighting for the repeal of the interest capping law that was introduced in his early days in office in 2016.

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Central Bank of Kenya Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge has revealed the amount of money in old Ksh 1000 the state was able to collect in the just concluded demonetisation exercise.

Speaking during a press conference at the CBK headquarters in Nairobi on Wednesday, Njoroge said that the State has collected 209.66 million old-generation Ksh1, 000 notes out of the 217 million pieces that were in circulation by September 30

Njoroge said that throughout the exercise that began on Madaraka Day, June 1, the State flagged 3, 172 suspicions transactions.

He noted that Kenya had two reasons which triggered the demonisation exercise.

“Demonetisation is done for a number of reasons. In Kenya, we did it for two reasons: the first one, was to deal with illicit financial flows in Kenya and other countries. The second reason was that we needed to deal with counterfeiting of the Kenyan currency; the bank note of choice was Ksh1, 000,” said Njoroge.

“We did not do that to destabilise your financial position,” he added.

The CBK chief said the regulator chose a 4-month window to wipe out the old-generation Ksh1, 000 notes so as to give Kenyans ample time to exchange the old money with new tender.

“There are two general approaches to demonitisation. The first one is what is called the shock approach, where you demonitise overnight. This happens where there is significant dislocations in the economy. The other approach is the gradual approach, which minimises disruptions to the economy and also enhance the effectiveness in addressing the objectives; in our case, it is corruption, money-laundering and tax evasion,” said Njoroge.

“There are some questions that Kenyans asked throughout the exercise: Some said: ‘was 4 months enough’? Others said: ‘Was 4 months too much? Maybe we should have done 2 months’. We had to strike a balance between being overly generous for the common mwananchi to allow them a lot of time to exchange the old money,” said Njoroge.

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When Kibra parliamentary seat was declared vacant, a section of Kenyans raised concerns over the old Ksh 1000 notes that are becoming obsolete after the September 30 deadline that was set by Central Bank of Kenya.

They took to social media arguing that Kibra will now provide a ground to politicians to clear the old notes. And do you think all these speculations were wrong?

Well, it seems the campaigns in Kibra have already provided fertile ground for some politicians to clear their stock of old Sh1,000 notes ahead of the demonetisation deadline.

Aspirants in the forthcoming November 7 mini polls have been moving around the constituency trying to woo supporters.

Reports have it that a front runner in the by-election has been dishing out bundles of old Sh1,000 notes to churches, youth and women since his campaign to succeed MP Ken Okoth began.

The politician has visited churches and held meetings, dishing out bundles of the old notes at each event.

Some Kenyans have already raised this issue through social media.

“Someone is releasing oldnotes to Kibra residents inform of campaigning for a certain candidate, Kimwarer money is in circulation! ” tweeted Frank Mtetezi, a twitter user.

Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge  has maintained that the old notes will cease being legal tender on Monday, September 30.

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