Data collected by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) between June and August 2019 has revealed that most customers converting old Sh1,000 notes have changed amounts below one million shillings.

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Speaking on Tuesday, CBK Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge said only twenty four transactions were above two million shillings indicating that most Kenyans do not hold excess cash outside the financial system

“A lot of the conversions are small in value and this fits well with how we saw things. You just don’t walk around with Sh100,000 in your pocket. Not so many people live this lifestyle,” he said as quoted by Citizen.

“There are those who have thrown at me a number of people holding hundreds of millions of shillings. Hio mimi sijui (I don’t know about that),” he added.

According to the data, CBK has managed to receive 100 million pieces of the 217.6 million pieces of Sh1,000 notes that were in circulation as at June 30. This means over 117.6 million pieces are still out there.

October 1 is the deadline for you to change the old Sh1,000 notes.

“All the older Sh1,000 series shall be withdrawn. All persons have until October 1, 2019 to exchange these notes, after which the older ones will cease to be legal tender,” CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge said in June.