More than 6.5 million Kenyans registered new mobile money accounts in the 11 months through November 2020, bringing the total number of mobile money accounts at the end of November to 65.766 million according to data from the Central Bank of Kenya.
The jump in mobile money accounts followed measures introduced by the Central Bank of Kenya in March to encourage the use of digital money as opposed to cash. The Central Bank of Kenya and telecom companies waived mobile money transfer fees for transactions below KSh1,000 for a period of nine months starting from March 2020.
Active mobile money agents increased to 275,960 at the end of November compared to 222,211 agents in the same period in 2019, a 24% increase. Similarly, the value of mobile money transactions grew to KSh526.8 billion at the end of November from KSh359.26 billion in November 2019.
The Covid19 pandemic fueled the use of mobile money platforms in Kenya as more people avoided cash transactions and moved to digital channels. The volume of mobile-based transactions grew to 170 million from 153 million in November 2019.
“A significant increase of mobile money usage has been noted over the period the measures have been in place, demonstrating that they were timely and effective,” said the Central Bank.
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