Frequently asked questions

KES 50,000 for most Treasury bonds, KES 100,000 for infrastructure bonds and Treasury bills, then top-ups in multiples of KES 50,000. You bid through DhowCSD directly — there is no broker fee.

Two reasons. First, withholding tax: 15% on bonds under ten years, 10% on ten years and over, and 0% on infrastructure bonds. Second, price: if you buy above par (over 100) your yield is below the coupon, and below par it is above. Our calculator solves the yield from the price you actually pay, so both effects are already in the number.

Yes — coupon income on IFBs is exempt from withholding tax. That is why an IFB paying a lower coupon often beats a higher-coupon FXD on a net basis, and why our dashboard compares the two side by side rather than ranking on headline coupon.

No, and it is wrong in both directions. Bills are sold at a discount, so the true gross yield is higher than the quoted rate — then 15% withholding tax pulls the net below it. Our Treasury Bills page shows all three numbers together.

A ladder holds several bonds maturing in different years instead of one big holding. Money comes back at intervals rather than all at once, so you can meet known expenses without selling at whatever price the market offers, and you reinvest gradually rather than betting everything on one day's rate.

The Kenyan government has never defaulted on a shilling-denominated bond, so if you hold to maturity you expect your principal back. But you can lose money by selling early: bond prices fall when rates rise. Inflation is the other risk — a 12% net yield with 6.4% inflation is roughly 5.6% in real purchasing power.

Register for a CSD account at dhowcsd.centralbank.go.ke with your ID, KRA PIN and bank details, wait for approval, then bid before the offer closes. Retail investors should normally choose non-competitive bidding, which takes the weighted average rate rather than requiring you to guess one. Our Auction Radar has the full step-by-step guide.

Published CBK auction results and prospectuses, NSE trading data and KNBS inflation releases. Figures are labelled with their source and date. Some values — coupon dates derived from issue schedules, and yields without an auction print — are estimates, and the app says so where they appear. Always confirm against the official prospectus.

No. There is no account and no server storing your data — holdings live in your browser on your device. See our privacy policy.

Yes. Add it to your home screen and it installs like an app. Pages and the last market data you loaded are cached, so calculations keep working with no signal — the badge in the header tells you when you are seeing cached figures.

It is free, with no ads and no data collection. The app is static files and client-side maths, so it costs almost nothing to run.