CBK Denies Matiang'i's Claims Of Shortage Of Ksh200 Notes
CBK Governor, Dr Patrick Njoroge, revealed that the regulator had supplied enough notes to the banks for the month.
Marvin Chege 
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has dismissed alleged revelations by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i that Kenya is experiencing a shortage of Ksh200 notes.
Speaking in a virtual address on Thursday, July 28, CBK Governor, Dr Patrick Njoroge, revealed that the regulator had supplied enough notes to the banks for the month.
He further noted that the regulator did not receive reports of the shortage of notes, adding that the supply is based on the demand by banks across the country.
An image of a bundle of notes. /FILE
"I do not know anything about the shortage of small notes. I do not know where that story is coming from. All I can say is we supply notes as demanded by banks.
"In the month of July, we supplied the banks with the equivalent of 2.1 billion of Ksh100 notes and we have a lot of stock of it," he said.
He further noted that the regulator provides the notes according to the demand and ensures adequate supply to maintain the current status of the economy in the country, allaying fears of an acute shortage of bank notes.
"When a bank demands, we provide and it is our job to ensure that there is sufficient supply for the sake of the economy," he added.
Speaking during the launch of the inaugural Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing National Risk Assessment Report (2021), on Wednesday, July 27, Matiang'i blamed a section of car dealers for colluding with the politicians to hoard the notes for use in swaying voters' decisions ahead of the August 9 general elections.
He noted that the dealers took advantage of the transition period from the old currency to the new one which saw them exchange the old notes for the new ones in quick succession.
"Car dealers changed billions of shillings. How many cars do you need to sell to be able to have billions and all these dealers are friends of senior politicians?
"They are now the ones financing all these Ksh200 and Ksh500 notes in the villages and so on," he said.
He further zeroed in on the illegal second-hand car dealers who operate in the industry without permits having relied on bribes to squeeze their way in.
The CS vowed to crack down on the dealers, in collaboration with the National Police Service (NPS).
"I have been fighting people called second-hand motor vehicle dealers, two-thirds don't have permits but they are operating because they have paid some of your people and they bribe them every day. We need to scan this environment and see what we need to do in terms of reinforcement," he added.
