CBK Negotiates Lower Rates for Mobile Transfers

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has brought financial institutions and Telcos on the table to facilitate the increased use of mobile money transfers for goods and services other than cash transactions.

The move will help reduce the transfer of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) which has caused panic across the nation since its first case was first confirmed in the nation last week.

“While the immediate objective is to reduce the risk of transmission of Covid-19 (coronavirus) by handling banknotes, this will also reduce the use of cash in the economy over the medium term,” CBK said in a statement on Monday 17.

Safaricom announced that charges for person-to-person transfer of amounts below Sh1,000 had been waived and daily M-Pesa transaction limit has been increased from Sh70,000 to Sh150,000.

Further, the daily limit for mobile money transactions has also been increased to Sh300,000 – up from Sh140,000 with one’s wallet limit increased to a max of Sh300,000.

Airtel, on the other hand, has also announced that it had waived charges on person-to-person transfers with daily transaction limits increased to Sh150,000 from Sh70,000 while the daily limit for mobile transfer increased to Sh300,00 from Sh140,000.

The limit one can have in their wallets also increased from Sh140,000 to Sh300,000. With transaction cost from the bank account to the mobile wallet waived.

CBK announced that the deal would run-up to June 30, with the waived charges intended to support the initiative to curb the escalating corona cases.

CBK also announced that the current tariff for mobile money transactions for Sh70,000 will apply for transactions up to Sh150,000.

The confirmed corona cases in Kenya has risen to 4 patients with 20 people suspected to have the virus are expecting results from the National Influenza Centre while 24 people are quarantined after testing negative for the virus.