Mobile cash transactions jumped by nearly a third last year, reflecting the impact of economic recovery and the rising uptake of cashless deals by consumers and businesses.
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows that Safaricom’s M-Pesa, Airtel Money and Telkom’s T-Kash agents handled Sh6.8 trillion in the 12 months to December, a 31.7 percent jump from Sh5.2 trillion a year earlier.
Mobile cash transactions jumped by nearly a third last year, reflecting the impact of economic recovery and the rising uptake of cashless deals by consumers and businesses.
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows that Safaricom’s M-Pesa, Airtel Money and Telkom’s T-Kash agents handled Sh6.8 trillion in the 12 months to December, a 31.7 percent jump from Sh5.2 trillion a year earlier.
The performance came in the wake of the economic recovery from the initial Covid-19 pandemic shocks.
Kenya’s economy was hit hard in 2020 by the effects of restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the respiratory illness, with tourism and transport among the sectors that registered the biggest slump.
But economic activity picked up last year, led by a rebound in tourism and construction among others.
“We’ve come out stronger and better. We can feel and see and touch that lives are getting back to normal,” Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said recently.
“We registered a GDP growth of 9.9 percent in the third quarter (2021), the second quarter was much better at 10.1 percent and overall for this financial year we are looking at a growth of possibly eight percent or even more. This is quite significant. It portends better jobs for our people and lives getting back to normal.”
Kenyans have also intensified their use of cashless payments due to convenience and the need to reduce contact as part of the effort to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The government introduced incentive to boost uptake of cashless transactions, including by waiving or reducing charges that banks and telecommunications firms levy.
Business owners now find it easier to deposit cash at mobile agencies and then transfer it to the bank, saving themselves the hassle of queuing in banking halls and the risk of transporting the cash physically to the bank branch.
Mobile money platforms were, in the formative years, used primarily for person-to-person cash transfers but are now a major payment channel for businesses, a shift that has led to the growth in the amount of money moved through the wallets.
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