Kenya to get new banknote family in Q2 of 2018?
Do you remember the news from Kenya where the Constitution adopted in 2010 prohibits the use of a person’s portrait on banknotes? The Central Bank of Kenya has ever since been struggeling to get the new family of banknotes out. Kenya has had problems with printer De la Rue which led to delays with the issuing of the new currency.
According to this article in the Standard Digital Kenya will finally get its new banknotes and coins by the second quarter of 2018 (in June at the latest). The article however also shows that the dispute with De la Rue hasn't been resolved yet. So let's not bet all our money on June 2018 yet, shall we?
Update 5-1-2018: Did you listen to me? Haven't you been betting on a Q2 introduction? Good! Because as somewhat expected the notes have been delayed even further according to this article. The High Court froze the contract that was awarded to De La Rue for the printing of new banknotes. These notes without portraits of political or historical figures, as mandated by the Kenyan Constitution, will therefore NOT be available by mid 2018...
Update 10-1-2018: Even worse for De la Rue: now the contract has been cancelled altogether. The court "...ordered that all four tenders should be re-evaluated within 14 days. The three other bidders were Giesecke & Devrient of Germany, Sweden’s Crane Currency and Oberthur Fiduciaire of France." Both the Central Bank and De la Rue announced they would appeal the decision.
No comments