Mobile money transactions in Kenya have increased by 52% in just the first 6 months of 2021, all thanks to the availability of digital payments as a measure to curb the spread of Covid-19
M-Pesa, a digital money platform by the country’s leading financial transactions company – Safaricom should be recognized for the role it has played in simplifying bank transactions in the country. About 90% of transactions within the first half of the year were made complete by this digital platform. With 247,000 active agents serving 28.31 million active customers in different parts of the country, the generation of Sh82.65 billion as revenue for network operators in the last financial year, is a feasible feat.
Between January and June, mobile money transactions to the tune of Sh3.26 trillion were made, though transactions in June dropped to Sh532.63 billion, compared to Sh536.70 completed in May.
According to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), comparing the figures of the first half of this year, to the second half of 2020 (July to December 2020), transactions had increased to Sh3.26 trillion, as against Sh3.06 trillion obtainable at the second half of 2020.
A deeper insight provided from CBK, shows that there was an addition of over 6 million new mobile money accounts to the 61.7 million already available, bringing the total of mobile money accounts to 67.8 million, as at June 2021. Mobile money transactions also increased to 175.8 million in June 2021, compared to 143.1 million that was in June 2020.
Growth in mobile money transactions did not only happen, but also an increase in mobile money agents. In June, active mobile money agents increased by 63, 820 to 301,457 agents, as against 237,637 agents in June 2020.
A 2020 report by an American research firm – Boston Consulting Group (BCG), ranks Kenya and Ghana as top competitors in the mobile money market, as they come second and third; respectively after China with respect to the usage of mobile payment platforms.
African countries are sure heading to greater heights in the world’s economic systems, as the report stated that the two African sovereign states contributed between $15 trillion and $20 trillion to the total value of mobile financial transactions in 2020.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
