The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) on Wednesday extended the directive to Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to keep mobile money transactions below Ksh1,000 free of charge to dissuade Kenyans from using hard currency in favour of digital money.
In a statement, Central Bank also announced that tariffs for transactions above Ksh70,000 will remain in place while the limit for mobile money wallets will be Ksh300,000.
Further, the Central Bank also stated that PSPs and banks will not charge transfers between mobile money wallets and bank accounts.
“Following the March 16, announcement by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) of measures to facilitate increased use of mobile money transactions instead of cash, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, CBK has reviewed their implementation,” read the statement
“A significant increase in the use of mobile money channels by individuals both in value and number of transactions was noted. Most of the increase was in low-value transactions of Ksh1,000 or less,” further read the statement.
According to CBK, the Ksh1,000 and below band accounts for 80% of mobile money transactions of which charges were eliminated.
“This has helped cushion most vulnerable households. Moreover more than 1.6 million additional customers are now using mobile money channels. However business- related transactions have declined marginally,” said CBK.
The monetary policy regulator says it will continue to monitor the measures.
Another report by CBK shows Kenyans moved Ksh564 million per day via mobile money channels between late April and early May as they sought to make most of the measures introduced by CBK.
The statistics show that the Ksh.70,001 – Ksh.150,000transaction band recorded a daily average 5,457 transactions worth Ksh.564.48 million per day from April 20 to May 10.
That was an increment from the Ksh428.5 million daily average recorded in the period between March 16 and April 19.
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