Central Bank of Kenya to Shred KSh1000 Old Notes to Make Briquettes

149,692,000 pieces of the new KSh 1,000 notes were in circulation as of September 30 – CBK

The Central Bank of Kenya received 209,661,000 pieces of the old KSh1,000 notes worth KSh209 billion by September 30 at the conclusion of the demonetization exercise.

Dr.Patrick Njoroge, the CBK Governor on Wednesday said 7.4 million pieces worth KSh7.4 billion were never returned. “Demonetisation has been successful,” he declared.

According to the Governor, the value of money that was returned is equivalent to the value lost during the Goldenberg case.

“We wanted to deal with counterfeit money on the economy and we succeeded because most of that amount is now worthless. We also wanted to deal with illicit cash flow and we have managed,” he said. “There will be a continuation of investigations and maintenance of the current poise. The exercise also gave a good start to other agencies.”

During the period, 3,172 suspicious transactions were flagged.

Each briquette is equivalent to Ksh 1,000,000 in shredded banknotes

The pieces of KSh1,000 notes returned have been declared valueless and are being shredded to make briquettes, he said.

“We are making briquettes with the old KSh1,000. Basically, we are shredding and turning them into powder, then condensing them into briquettes,” Njoroge said.