President Uhuru Kenyatta has called on banks to find new innovative ways of supporting the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
He called on the banking sector, which was well represented at the launch of new generation Kenya Shilling coins, to extend more credit facilities for the SMEs.
Uhuru said SMEs is the most important sector in Kenya’s economy. He spoke at the Central Bank of Kenya in Nairobi when he presided over the unveiling of the new coins.
"Provide more credit to SMEs. They are the ones who create jobs and guarantee you good returns," the President said.
He said banks should know that the days when only big borrowers were trusted to be secure are long gone.
Uhuru further implored on banks to extend credit facilities to youths who lack title deeds and car logbooks to use as collateral for loans.
"Next year, we need to sit down with you and see how we open up access to credit for the young people of Kenya. They have ideas but no title deeds. They are innovative but have no logbooks. We have to find a way to enable them fund their ideas," Uhuru said.
The newly launched coins bear no symbols or portraits of persons as outlined in the 2010 Constitution.
The coins will be available in denominations of Sh1, Sh5, Sh10 and Sh20 and will begin to circulate on Tuesday.
The Sh1 coin depicts the image of a giraffe while the Sh5 coin bears the image of a rhino.
The Sh10 coin bears the image of a lion while the Sh20 coin has the image of an elephant.
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge also spoke at the event.
During the unveiling of the new coins, the Head of State symbolically received a dummy cheque of Sh800 million from the bank on behalf of the government.
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