Currency and formatting
- Currency
- Kenyan Shilling (KES)
- Symbol
- Ksh — placed before the amount
- Decimal places
- 2
- Formatted example
- Ksh 123,456.78
- Thousands separator
- ,
- Decimal separator
- .
- Digit grouping
- threes (3)
- Live rate
- No central-bank source publishes KES yet
Tax
- 0% — zero rated
Payment methods in Kenya
Roughly ordered by real-world use — not by what a card processor would prefer you offer.
- 01 mpesa
- 02 card
- 03 airtel money
Card schemes that work domestically: visa, mastercard. 3-D Secure is standard practice; strong customer authentication is not legally mandated.
Locale
- Primary
- sw-KE
- Also used
- en-KE
- Official languages
- Swahili, English
- Direction
- left-to-right
- Date format
- DD/MM/YYYY
- Measurement
- metric
- GDPR applies
- no
Phone numbers
- Calling code
- +254
- Mobile format
- +254 XXX XXX XXX
- Digits
- 9
Kenya: common questions
What currency does Kenya use?
Kenya uses the Kenyan Shilling (KES), symbol Ksh. It uses 2 decimal places, formatted as Ksh 123,456.78.
How many decimal places does KES have?
KES has 2 decimal places. Charging with the wrong number of minor units is a 100× error, so this is worth getting right.
What is the VAT rate in Kenya?
The standard VAT rate in Kenya is 16.00%. Prices are displayed tax-inclusive.
What payment methods are used in Kenya?
The methods that matter in Kenya, in rough order of use: mpesa, card, airtel money.
What is the dialling code for Kenya?
Kenya's country calling code is +254. Mobile numbers are formatted +254 XXX XXX XXX (9 digits after the country code).
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