Kenyan shilling to birr exchange rate today
Live Kenyan Shilling (KES) buying and selling rates from 8 Ethiopian banks, ranked best first. KES is used in cross-border trade with Kenya. Each bank sets its own rate and most reprice on every business day.
RATES AS OF 4 SEPTEMBER 2026
Which Ethiopian bank has the best KES rate today?
The best rate to sell KES cash in Ethiopia on 4 September 2026 is 1.24 ETB per KES, at Development Bank of Ethiopia. The cheapest place to buy KES is Development Bank of Ethiopia at 1.27 ETB.
These are official published bank rates for the Kenyan Shilling, compared across every commercial bank in Ethiopia that posts a board. A bank pays you its buying rate for foreign currency and charges you its selling rate to hand it over, so the two always differ - the gap is the bank’s spread.
All Ethiopian bank KES rates, compared
Every bank that publishes a KES board, ranked by the rate it pays for cash. Select a bank to see its full board across all currencies.
| Bank | Cash buying | Cash selling | Trans. buying | Trans. selling | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.24unchanged 0.00% | 1.27unchanged 0.00% | - | - | 9h ago | |
| - | - | 1.21unchanged 0.00% | 1.23unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| - | - | 1.24unchanged 0.00% | 1.26unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| - | - | 1.24down −0.03% | 1.27down −0.03% | 9h ago | |
| - | - | 1.25unchanged 0.00% | 1.27unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| - | - | 1.27unchanged 0.00% | 1.30unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 1.12unchanged 0.00% | 1.14unchanged 0.00% | - | - | 28 Aug board | |
| - | - | 0.36 | 0.37 | 13 Sept 2024 board |
How much does the bank you choose matter?
1 bank currently publish a KES cash board. Every bank quoting KES is currently within a hair of the rest. 2 further banks have not refreshed since the current trading day and are excluded from these figures.
- Best paid to you
- 1.24ETB
- Median paid to you
- 1.24ETB
- Lowest paid to you
- 1.24ETB
- Cheapest to buy
- 1.27ETB
KES rate history
Other currencies against the Ethiopian birr
- USDUnited States Dollar
- EUREuro
- GBPBritish Pound Sterling
- AEDUnited Arab Emirates Dirham
- SARSaudi Riyal
- CNYChinese Yuan
- CADCanadian Dollar
- AUDAustralian Dollar
- JPYJapanese Yen
- CHFSwiss Franc
- SEKSwedish Krona
- NOKNorwegian Krone
- DKKDanish Krone
- INRIndian Rupee
- DJFDjiboutian Franc
- ZARSouth African Rand
- KWDKuwaiti Dinar
- XDRSpecial Drawing Right
Answers
KES to ETB - frequently asked questions
What is the KES to ETB exchange rate today?
On 4 September 2026, the highest rate any Ethiopian bank pays for KES cash is 1.24 ETB per KES, at Development Bank of Ethiopia - that is what you receive when you sell KES. Buying KES costs more: the cheapest bank is Development Bank of Ethiopia at 1.27 ETB. Each bank sets its own rate and most reprice on every business day.
Which Ethiopian bank has the best KES exchange rate?
Development Bank of Ethiopia currently pays the most for KES cash, at 1.24 ETB. The leader changes regularly, because banks reprice independently and often daily. The table on this page ranks all 8 banks by their current published rate and flags any bank that has not refreshed its board.
What is the difference between the cash rate and the transactional rate?
The cash rate applies to physical banknotes handed over a counter. The transactional rate applies to non-cash movements - wire transfers, remittances credited to an account, card settlement and letters of credit. Handling physical notes costs a bank more, so its cash rate is usually slightly worse than its transactional rate. Both are shown for every bank on this page, so compare the one that matches how your KES will actually arrive.
Why do buying and selling rates differ?
The buying rate is what a bank pays you for your KES; the selling rate is what it charges when you buy KES from it. The bank keeps the gap between them, called the spread, as its margin. A narrower spread is a better deal overall, which is why it is worth comparing alongside the headline rate - a bank can lead on one side and lag badly on the other.
Are these official bank rates or parallel market rates?
These are official rates, taken from the exchange rate boards Ethiopian commercial banks publish themselves. ET-Forex does not collect, quote or estimate parallel (black market) rates. The Kenyan Shilling figures shown here are what a bank branch will apply, subject to that branch's own limits and documentation requirements.
How often are these KES rates updated?
ET-Forex re-reads every tracked bank's published board several times a day, and this page refreshes within minutes of a change. Most Ethiopian banks reprice once per business day, in the morning. Each row shows when that bank was last read, and any bank still quoting an older trading day is flagged and ranked last rather than being quietly mixed in with current rates.
Developer API
Every Ethiopian bank rate, one endpoint.
Query live and historical boards by bank, currency or rate type. JSON in, JSON out - no scraping, no per-bank quirks to handle.
JSON
REST, no SDK needed
90d
History, anonymous
Free
No key to read rates
$ curl 'https://api.et-forex.com/api/v1/banks/CBE/rates'
{
"bank": "CBE",
"rates": [{
"currency": "USD",
"cashBuying": "160.23",
"cashSelling": "163.44"
}]
}