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Diaspora Desk · Kenya

Money home, and what it earns there

For Kenyans abroad: the cheapest way to send $200 home from where you live, what KES 100,000 earns at home in a year after tax, how investing from abroad works, and what to check before you send money to any investment. Information, not advice.

Today’s shilling

KES 129.98 per $1

KES 174.37 per £1 · KES 145.48 per €1

Mid-market reference, ExchangeRate-API, 4 Nov 2026

1 · Send · survey of January to March 2025

What it costs to send $200 home

Every corridor →

Where do you send from?

Cheapest service surveyed

$8.76

Mama Money · 4.38% of $200Money Transfer Operator

Average of 36 services

$20.90

10.45% of $200The cheapest saves $12.14 on each $200

Sending the equivalent of $200 from South Africa to Kenya: fee plus exchange-rate margin. World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide, survey of January to March 2025.

The service you use, against the cheapest surveyed

Only the services the World Bank surveyed on the corridor are listed (January to March 2025). If yours is not there, we hold no price for it.

The World Bank prices the same transfer, the equivalent of $200, with every service it surveys in each corridor, and counts both the fee and the margin hidden in the exchange rate. Only the sending countries it surveys into Kenya are shown (6).

Survey prices are for one quarter, and a very low price can be a first-transfer offer. Compare the shillings that arrive on the service’s own quote on the day you send.

Every sending country to Kenya

Afronomics may earn a referral fee from some providers listed on our send-money pages, which may include services named here. It never changes the order, which is by cost alone.

2 · Earn · after 15% withholding tax

What KES 100,000 earns at home in a year

Today's published rates, applied for one year. A bill's rate is fixed when you buy it; fund yields move every day; the bank average is a monthly figure.

Dollar, pound and euro amounts use ExchangeRate-API's mid-market reference of 4 Nov 2026; what you receive when converting will differ. The bill line is what the Treasury bill calculator shows for KES 100,000 paid at that auction’s average rate; the fund and bank lines apply the published yearly rate. All after 15% withholding tax on interest. Fund yields are each manager’s own published figure, and managers differ on whether fees are already taken off. A rate earned in shillings can be worth more or less in your currency by the time you bring it back.

3 · Invest from abroad

How bills, bonds and funds work from outside Kenya

Treasury bills and bonds: CBK’s DhowCSD

  • Individuals and companies can buy bills and bonds without an intermediary by opening a CSD account on DhowCSD, the Central Bank of Kenya’s web portal and mobile app. They can also buy through a Kenyan commercial bank or investment bank.
  • Documents, per CBK’s FAQ: an ID or passport, a photo, and a KRA PIN, which it marks mandatory for residents. CBK’s requirements sheet also asks for a valid email address and mobile number.
  • You link a commercial bank account (the settlement account), in the name on your ID, and that bank approves the CSD account: within 48 working hours, by CBK’s FAQ.
  • The minimum investment in government securities is KES 50,000.
  • Bills are sold at a discount and repay their face value in 91, 182 or 364 days; most bonds pay interest every six months. Some infrastructure bonds are tax-exempt.
  • Withholding tax: KRA’s rate table lists 15% on bank interest and on interest from two-year government bonds for both residents and non-residents; the figures above use 15%.
  • CBK lists a toll-free line for US-based investors, +1 (833) 201 0220.

Treasury bill calculator · Latest auction results

Money market funds

  • A money market fund is a collective investment scheme run by a fund manager. The Capital Markets Authority keeps separate lists of licensed fund managers and approved collective investment schemes. A fund’s published yield describes the recent past and moves daily.
  • Each manager sets its own account-opening rules. CIC Asset Management’s application form, for example, asks for a copy of an ID or passport, a KRA PIN, a passport photo and proof of bank details.
  • Check that both the manager and the fund are on the CMA’s list of licensees before you send money.

Money market funds ranked by yield · Savings goal planner

4 · Check first

Before you send money to any investment or land deal

  1. SACCOs and banks: look the name up in the Afronomics registry of SACCOs licensed by SASRA and banks licensed by CBK. For a digital lender, use the loan app checker.
  2. Funds and investment firms: search the CMA’s licensed fund managers and approved collective investment schemes. Regulators say a business permit is not enough: a regulated financial firm also needs a licence from a financial-sector regulator.
  3. Land: the State Department for Lands’ online platform is Ardhisasa. Use it, and an advocate you instruct yourself rather than one the seller provides, before any money changes hands.

Warning signs regulators name

  • Promises of huge returns.
  • Being asked to recruit new members to earn more: CBK, CMA and the other regulators call this a characteristic of a pyramid scheme.
  • A firm that is not on a regulator’s list, whatever its permits, website or social-media following.

From the joint public notice by CMA, CBK, IRA, RBA, SASRA and the Ministry of Cooperatives, 25 August 2020.

Information, not advice. Afronomics does not recommend any provider, fund or investment. Rates change; check them on the day.

Quick answers

Questions people ask

What is the cheapest way to send money to Kenya?
It depends on where you send from. In the World Bank's survey of January to March 2025, the cheapest service for $200 cost $8.76 from South Africa, $3.14 from United Kingdom, $0.54 from United States. Check the service's own quote on the day you send.
Can I buy Kenyan Treasury bills from abroad?
The Central Bank of Kenya sells bills and bonds through DhowCSD, an online account opened on its portal or app. Its FAQ lists an ID or passport, a photo and a KRA PIN, and the account is linked to a commercial bank account that approves it. The minimum is KES 50,000.
How do I check that a fund manager is licensed?
Search the Capital Markets Authority's list of licensees (licensees.cma.or.ke), which has separate lists for fund managers and approved collective investment schemes such as money market funds.