Historical Sketch

In 1895, Great Britain established the East Africa protectorate by taking over the possessions of the Mombasa-based Imperial British East Africa Company, which was about to default. In 1920, most parts of the protectorate were annexed as Kenya colony, a small coastal strip remained under nominal suzerainty of the sultan of Zanzibar and hence in protectorate status. In effect, the Kenya colony and protectorate was under British rule everywhere. In 1963, Kenya attained independence and became a republic the following year.

Monetary History Overview

Kenya kept the common East African currency with neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda for three years after independence. In 1966, the Kenyan Shilling was introduced as national currency. It repegged from the Pound Sterling to the US Dollar and remained at par with the Tanzanian and Ugandan currencies of until end 1979. The peg of the three currencies had switched to IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) unit in 1975. After the split a series of devaluations set in, amounting to about 30% until 1993 when the exchange rate got floated. The Shilling lost near 50% within a year and has settled into a slow and steady depreciation since then.

Kenya joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 03.02.1964.

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