By Alan Burkitt-Gray
Kenyans made 1.9 trillion mobile money transactions in the first 11 months of 2021, worth more than US$55 billion.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said that transactions in the first 11 months of 2021 were 20 per cent up on the whole of 2020.
The total for the whole of 2021 is likely to be much higher, as December was the most active month of 2020, with 181 million transactions worth the equivalent of US$5.33 billion. If that trend continued in 2021, then the total for 2021 is likely to exceed US$61 billion.
Safaricom, part of the Vodafone group, is the pioneer provider of mobile money in Kenya, under its M-Pesa brand.
The Econet news agency says that the number of transactions in Kenya also grew by about 19 per cent compared to the 1.6 trillion in 2020 for 66 million active accounts.
Before the December figures for 2021 are in, October recorded the highest number of transactions, at 190 million, with a value equivalent to US$5.45 billion.
The increase in the follows the introduction by the CBK of a series of emergency measures to facilitate mobile money transactions during the lockdown.
These measures included waiving fees for mobile money transactions of up to 1,000 Kenyan shillings (US$8.80), waiving transfer fees between mobile money wallets and bank accounts. These exemptions were lifted on 1 January 2021.
