Currency of Kenya

The currency of Kenya is shilling which replaced the East African shilling in 1966. The ISO 4217 code of this currency is KES and it is divisible into 100 cents. The coins of shilling were issued in the same year with denominators of 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents, and 1 and 2 shillings. A brief history of these coins states that the 25-cent coins were not minted after 1969. In 1971, government stopped minting 2 shilling coins. In 1985, 1994 and 1998, the coins of 5 shillings, 10 shillings and 20 shillings were introduces respectively.

The portrait of Jomo Kenyatta was originally appeared on these coins between his reign during 1967 to 1978. In 1980, this portrait was replaced with the Daniel Arap Moi and these coins circulated until 2005 when central bank introduced newly designed coins with the original portrait of Kenyatta. The 50 cents and 1 shilling coins are minted in stainless steel while the 5, 10 and 20 shilling coins are bi-metallic.

Bank notes are also circulated in Kenya with denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. These are issued by the central bank of Kenya. The story of portrait on these bank notes is similar to that of coins. Currently, these notes feature a portrait of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta on the fascia and various economic activities on the backside of these notes.

Kenya Currency Kiribati