Coordinates | 1°17′24″S 36°49′30″E / 1.28988°S 36.824922°E |
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Established | 24 March 1966(legal) 14 September 1966 (public operation) |
Ownership | 100% state ownership[1] |
Governor | Kamau Thugge |
Central bank of | Kenya |
Currency | Kenyan shilling KES (ISO 4217) |
Reserves | US$8.586 billion[2] |
Preceded by | East African Currency Board |
Website | www |
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) (Swahili: Banki Kuu ya Kenya) is the monetary authority of Kenya. Its head office is located in Nairobi. CBK was founded by in 1966 after the dissolution of East African Currency Board (EACB). Dr. Kamau Thugge, CBS is the current Governor and Dr. Susan Koech is the Deputy Governor.
The bank’s executive management team comprises the governor, deputy governors and heads of departments. The governor assumes the role of Chief Executive Officer of the bank and is therefore responsible for its overall management. The governor is also the bank’s official spokesperson.
The current governor of the bank is Dr. Kamau Thugge.[3] Former governors of the bank are:[4]
The current deputy governors are Susan Koech and Gerald Nyaoma.[5]
The current board of directors is as follows:[13]
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the CBK instituted a loan restructuring program to help financially distressed borrowers. The restructuring program was in place from March 2020 to March 2021.[14]
In 2021, legislation passed the National Assembly that allows the CBK to cap interest rates and to revoke the licenses of digital lenders that breach the Data Protection Act or the Consumer Protection Act.[15]
In October 2023, while responding to questions from a parliamentary committee on finance and national planning, CBK Governor Dr. Thugge said the decline in international reserves was caused by an overvaluation of the shilling against the dollar.[16] This was against the backdrop of a gradual reduction in import cover from 5.5 months to 3.7 months. Thugge cited data from the IMF & World Bank which put the overvaluation of the shilling in the range of 20-25%.[17] According to the Governor, the attempt to artificially maintain a strong exchange rate came at the cost of losing vital international reserves.[18]