Expectations are that the Central Bank of Kenya(CBK) will extend the waiver on mobile money transaction fees for amounts below KSh 1,000.
Following consultations with the CBK in March, mobile money service providers increased mobile-based transaction limits to KSh 150,000 from the previous KSh 70,000 and allowed daily transfers of up to KSh 300,000 from KSh 140,000.
The CBK also eliminated charges for transfers between mobile wallets and bank accounts.
These emergency measures were to be in place for 90 days starting from March 17th, 2020. The transaction fee waiver aimed to increase the use of digital money instead of cash payments.
Airtel money waived all charges-allowing its customers to send or receive money for free on its cash transfer platform.
This was above what was offered by Safaricom and Telkom whose revised charges only applied to amounts below KSh 1,000.
The transaction fee waivers and other changes caused by the pandemic are expected to cause a KSh 5.5 Billion decline in Safaricom’s M-Pesa revenue for the three months from mid-March. This revenue loss is equivalent to about 7% of Mpesa’s annual earnings.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said he is not worried about the Mpesa revenue loss
“We are in a good place to be able to weather this storm, but our business is linked to how the country comes out on the other side,” Ndegwa told the media in April upon taking over the firm as CEO.
Kenya continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic with cases steadily rising each passing hour.
In the last 100 days since the first coronavirus infection was confirmed, the positive cases have risen to 4797 cases as at 22nd June, 2020.
The pandemic has now spread to 40 counties even as the Government intensifies containment effects including curfews as well as restriction on movement in and out of Nairobi and Mombasa.
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