Starting Tuesday March 17, you will be able to transact via M-PESA free of charge for amounts below Ksh1,000 for the next 90 days. The company has announced.
This follows engagement between financial services providers and the government a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta announced further measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
President Kenyatta encouraged Kenyans to embrace cashless transactions as a stop-gap measure moments after the second and third virus cases were reported in the country.
Consequently, after a meeting with Central Bank Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge, Safaricom has also raised the transaction limit for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) from Ksh70,000 to Ksh150,000.
By the same token, Kenyans will also be able to transact upto Ksh300,000 up from Ksh140,000 and hold up to Ksh300,000 on their digital wallets.
“Safaricom is working with the government to provide a call centre and an integrating toll free line 719 which has been set up by the National Emergency Response Committee on Coronavirus to support Kenyans in understanding how to prevent and manage cases,” reads a dispatch issued by Safaricom.
“We have also interconnected other networks to ensure that their subscribers can access the call centre. All calls to 719 are free,” added the statement
Safaricom itself has felt the impact of the COVID-19 with the company having to delay imports, a move which has derailed the company’s business.
Acting CEO Michael Joseph last week revealed that the spread of the virus had affected the company’s some aspects of its PostPay offering.
“Unfortunately, the spread of the COVID-19 virus has affected some of the exciting stuff we had lined up. The importation of new phones and tablets but we expect everything to straighten out in two months provided coronavirus does not impact us too much” said Mr Joseph.
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