The Central Bank of Kenya has extended the emergency measures on mobile money transactions put in place on March 16th due to the onset of the Coronavirus. The measures will be in place from July 1st 2020 and extended to December 31st 2020. The measures include, no charges for mobile money transactions of up to Kshs 1,000, current tariff for transactions above Kshs 70,000 to remain and three will be no charge by Payment Service Providers and commercial banks for transfers between mobile money wallets and bank accounts.
The removal of charges on mobile money transactions of Kshs 1,000 has really helped Kenyans, “A significant increase in the use of mobile money channels by individuals in both value and number of transactions was noted,” read part of the CBK statement. Transactions of Kshs 1,000 or less account for 80% of mobile money transactions and eliminating the charges helped cushion vulnerable households.
According to CBK, more than 1.6 million additional customers are now using mobile money channels, while business related transactions have declined marginally, “CBK notes that these measures were timely and highly effective in facilitating official and personal transfers at a time of great need.”
