Kenyans sent a lot more money to businesses in the April-June quarter, owing to the government directive urging them to use cashless payment methods to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
In total, Kenyans sent Kshs. 446.50 Billion to businesses via mobile money, representing a massive 43.8 percent increase from the previous quarter. Previously, the value of customer to business (C2B) transfers, according to the Communication Authority of Kenya(CA), was Kshs. 310.48 Billion.
The latest Sector Statistics report from the regulator cites the significant increase in the values transacted to the government’s directive that urged Kenyans to use contactless payments more to help curtail the spread of COVID-19.
Soon as the country reported its first case of COVID-19, the government put in place several measures to help reduce the spread.
In addition to embracing cashless payment systems like mobile money, the government also slashed transaction cost on transactions equal to or less than Kshs. 1000.
The economic slowdown experienced due to the pandemic was felt strongly by the government. Kenyans sent Kshs. 8.73 Billion to the government in Q2, down by 62.5 percent from Q1, 2020.
The number of peer-to-peer transactions on mobile money platforms rose significantly by 24.3 percent. In contrast, the value of P2P transactions only increased by 7.2 percent to Kshs. 722.55 Billion.
As the number of mobile subscriptions in the country grows, the number of active registered mobile money subscriptions paints a similar picture. Between April and June, active registered mobile money subscriptions were up 4.6 percent to cross the 30 million mark for the first time.
M-Pesa Dominance
Safaricom’s M-Pesa continued to dominate the mobile money market in the period. M-Pesa ended the period with a market share of 98.9 percent with over 195,000 agents and 30.2 million users.
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