Central Bank of Kenya today reviewed its measures to increase the use of mobile money transactions following the novel COVID-19 pandemic, which came in to play in March. The regulator noted that there was a significant increase in the use of mobile money channels and most of the increase was in the low-value transactions of Ksh 1000 which accounted for more than 80% of these transactions after its charges were dropped to cushion Kenyans from the virus.
According to CBK, these measures were timely and highly effective in facilitating official and personal transfers at such a time of great need. In its review, the bank announced that the wallet and transaction limits that were announced on March 16th 2020 will remain in force and will extend until December 31, 2020.
“There will be no charge for mobile money transactions up to Ksh 1000, the current tariff for transactions above Ksh 70,000 remains and there will be no charge by Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and commercial banks for transfers between mobile money wallets and bank accounts,” read part of the press release.
Hours later telco giant Safaricom announced that its M-Pesa services shall undergo planned maintenance on the morning of Thursday 25th June 2020 between 0000hrs and 0500hrs. Because of the maintenance, all M-Pesa services including airtime purchase shall temporarily be unavailable. In a statement released to the public, Safaricom noted that the timing of the maintenance activity is aimed at ensuring customers are not inconvenienced in any way.
“We apologise for any inconveniences that may be caused and thank you for your support,” it read.
M-Pesa is the largest mobile money platform that is conversant with many Kenyans in their financial transactions.
