The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has refuted claims by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i that the country is experiencing a biting shortage of Ksh200 notes.

Speaking during a press briefing on Thursday, July 28, CBK Governor, Dr Patrick Njoroge, stated that they had supplied the banks with sufficient notes for the month.

He added that the regulator had not received reports from the banks over the said shortage.

“I do not know anything about the shortage of small notes. I do not know where that story is coming from. 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,” he stated

Additionally, the governor maintained that they had sufficient supply of bank notes and that there should be no cause for alarm.

“We have a lot of stock of it. When a bank demands, we provide and it is our job to ensure that there is sufficient supply for the sake of the economy.”

The statement by Dr Njoroge came barely a day after the Interior CS stated that there was a shortage of Ksh100 and Ksh200 notes occasioned by heavy withdrawals made by politicians.

“All Kenyans who have been looking around the villages have seen people carrying money in bags, lining up citizens to give them Ksh200. You understand now there is a shortage of Ksh200 and Ksh100 notes in our banks because politicians are bribing villagers, ” he stated. 

The CS raised concern over the issue adding that intelligence reports indicated that some of the politicians were engaged in money laundering.

“40 per cent of the people who will seat in elective institutions are active players in money laundering and there is no hope that they can actually tidy up the legislative environment.

“We need to elect a government that is against money laundering and has got a basic minimum level of integrity that will join all of us in fighting this because the challenges of this are real,” the CS noted.