Where to put money in Kenya — rates compared after tax

Where to put money

Money market funds, saccos and government paper, ranked by what a saver actually keeps. Every rate here carries the day it was true and who published it, because published Kenyan rates are not comparable as printed — a fund quotes today's return annualised and before tax, a sacco declares a rate for a finished year taxed at a different rate, and set side by side as printed the ranking is decided by whose convention you copied.

Inflation was 6.76% over the twelve months to September 2026. That is the hurdle: a rate below it is losing purchasing power with a positive number in front of it. The after-inflation column divides rather than subtracts, because the shillings you end the year with are themselves worth less.

Offered something that isn't here? See what the CMA licenses — all 20 categories, and which 4 of them are places to put money.

For a benchmark: the 91-day Treasury bill came in at 8.750% at the auction dated 2 Nov 2026. That is the Bank's own figure, annualised over the tenor and before tax. The bill is in the table below as well, where it is shown after tax and rolled for a year — which is why the two differ.

Option	After tax, a year	After inflation	KES 50,000 becomes	As published
364-day Treasury bill Central Bank of Kenya · regulated by CBK returns in full on a date fixed when you buy; selling earlier means taking the market price	7.68% 2 Nov 26	0.86%	KES 53,838	7.68% effective annual yield, after tax 2 Nov 26 · Central Bank of Kenya auction
182-day Treasury bill Central Bank of Kenya · regulated by CBK returns in full on a date fixed when you buy; selling earlier means taking the market price	7.67% 2 Nov 26	0.85%	KES 53,833	7.67% effective annual yield, after tax 2 Nov 26 · Central Bank of Kenya auction
91-day Treasury bill Central Bank of Kenya · regulated by CBK returns in full on a date fixed when you buy; selling earlier means taking the market price	7.65% 2 Nov 26	0.83%	KES 53,824	7.65% effective annual yield, after tax 2 Nov 26 · Central Bank of Kenya auction
Infrastructure bond Central Bank of Kenya · regulated by CBK returns in full on a date fixed when you buy; selling earlier means taking the market price	14.79% 17 Feb 25 — may have moved	—	KES 57,395	14.79% effective annual yield, after tax 17 Feb 25 · Central Bank of Kenya auction
10-year Treasury bond Central Bank of Kenya · regulated by CBK returns in full on a date fixed when you buy; selling earlier means taking the market price	13.66% 9 Dec 24 — may have moved	—	KES 56,830	13.66% effective annual yield, after tax 9 Dec 24 · Central Bank of Kenya auction
20-year Treasury bond Central Bank of Kenya · regulated by CBK returns in full on a date fixed when you buy; selling earlier means taking the market price	12.66% 12 May 25 — may have moved	—	KES 56,331	12.66% effective annual yield, after tax 12 May 25 · Central Bank of Kenya auction
25-year Treasury bond Central Bank of Kenya · regulated by CBK returns in full on a date fixed when you buy; selling earlier means taking the market price	12.03% 6 Apr 26 — may have moved	—	KES 56,015	12.03% effective annual yield, after tax 6 Apr 26 · Central Bank of Kenya auction
15-year Treasury bond Central Bank of Kenya · regulated by CBK returns in full on a date fixed when you buy; selling earlier means taking the market price	11.27% 6 Apr 26 — may have moved	—	KES 55,634	11.27% effective annual yield, after tax 6 Apr 26 · Central Bank of Kenya auction
Sacco shares (sector average) Regulated saccos, all of them · regulated by SASRA no exit date — shares are transferred to another member, not cashed in	9.50% 31 Dec 25 — may have moved	—	KES 54,750	10.00% declared for the year, before tax 31 Dec 25 · SASRA Sacco Supervision Annual Report 2025
Sacco deposits (sector average) Regulated saccos, all of them · regulated by SASRA withdrawable, but usually on notice and often tied up while it guarantees a loan	—	—	—	6.72% declared for the year, before tax 31 Dec 25 · SASRA Sacco Supervision Annual Report 2025

Funds that trade on the exchange

Property trusts and trackers, bought and sold through a stockbroker like a share. Not ranked with the table above, because their return is not a rate: a REIT pays distributions and its price moves as well, and a tracker pays nothing at all — NewGold follows the gold price, and that is the whole product.

Fund	Price	Paid out, 12 months	On that price
GLD New Gold Issuer (RP) Ltd Exchange Traded Funds	KES 4,935.00	—	—
SMWF Satrix MSCI World Feeder ETF Exchange Traded Funds	KES 985.00	—	—
ACORN Acorn Investment Management I-REIT Real Estate Investment Trust No price on the main board and no trading history held — not something you can buy through an ordinary stockbroking account.	—	—	—
ALP ALP Industrial I-REIT Real Estate Investment Trust	— last traded 14 May 26	—	—
FAHR ILAM Fahari I-REIT Real Estate Investment Trust No price on the main board and no trading history held — not something you can buy through an ordinary stockbroking account.	—	—	—
LAPR Laptrust Imara I-REIT Real Estate Investment Trust	KES 20.00	0.13	0.65%
TRFC TRIFIC Green USD IREIT Real Estate Investment Trust	KES 1.27	—	—

Distributions are what was declared over the last twelve months, against today's price. Shown before tax: what is withheld from a REIT distribution depends on the holder, and this page does not guess at a tax rate it does not know.

How the after-tax column is worked out. Withholding tax comes off the rate as the interest is credited, and what is left compounds for a year. Doing it the other way round — compounding first and taxing the total — taxes interest you never received and overstates a 10% gross yield by about seven basis points. The figure is ours, not the provider's; the provider's own figure is in the last column, exactly as they published it.

Where a provider quotes before tax and we do not know the rate withheld on that kind of income, the after-tax column is left empty rather than filled with a guess.

Why the order is not simply best-first. Every row carries the day its rate was true, and anything older than a fortnight is marked and sorted below the current ones. The Central Bank's bond table, for instance, has not moved since April 2026 — those yields are the newest that exist, and they are still not today's. Comparing a figure from last year against one from this week and calling the bigger one better is the mistake this page is for.

Already holding some of these? Record what you hold and Ipahco works out what it has actually earned you, from your own statement rather than from the rate above — and shows the two side by side.

Ipahco is not a licensed investment adviser and nothing here is a recommendation. These are published rates with their sources attached so you can check them. A rate is also not the only thing that matters: how quickly you can get the money back, and who regulates the provider, are on the row for a reason.

Money market funds are not on this table yet. They are what most Kenyan savers actually hold, and no fund manager in Kenya publishes a rate a machine can read — so each one has to be read off the provider's own page and entered by hand. Until that is done, treat what follows as government paper and saccos only, not as the whole market.

What the rates above actually mean

How to compare a fund, a bill, a bond and a sacco on one basis 3 min What a money market fund rate actually means 4 min Treasury bills, and what 8.75% is really worth 4 min Treasury bonds: the coupon is not the yield 4 min Sacco deposits and sacco shares are not the same thing 4 min ETFs and REITs on the NSE, and why they are not in the rate table 4 min Check the register before you give anyone your money 3 min