Kenya hires German firm as its new money printer

During a post-Monetary Police Committee (PMC) meeting address on Wednesday, Thugge stated the firm has been carefully selected and is believed to be "one of the best firms".

The German firm is being onboarded after De La Rue, the previous banknote printer, exited the Kenyan market in 2023 due to a low market.

Thugge further noted that in compliance with the dictates of the Kenyan law, significant changes have been made to the Kenyan currency notes.

"It's a normal process of the Central Bank. The notes that we have are getting old and we need to get new notes," he said.

The changes will affect all the notes starting with the Ksh.1000 notes since they will be first to be phased out.

"There could be a stock out in those notes (Ksh.1,000) and so it was really necessary that we get new notes as quickly as possible," he said.

According to CBK, the new version of the currency notes will have a distinct texture as the words "Kenya", the "1,000" digits and the note's edge will have a defined touch.

The security thread on the note, normally in a broken line, will appear as a continuous line and will also change colour when titled. 

A golden band showing the value of the banknote will also be seen when placed under an Ultra-Violet light.

The banknote's value, the words CBK, and the watermark of a lion's head can also be seen when held up against the light.