It has been reported that Kenya has 58.4 million mobile money subscribers – more than the total population of Kenya. According to the 2019 census data, the country has 47.5 million citizens.
Mobile money accounts now higher than total Kenyan population
On the back of the strong pick-up in mobile money subscriptions, Kenya has seen very strong growth in the number and value of mobile money transactions. According to a EFG Hermes report, the number of transactions increased from Sh2.5 million ($24,297.18) in 2007 to Sh1.8 billion ($17,493,969) in 2019, while the gross value of these transactions increased from Sh14.8 billion ($143,861,234) in 2007 to Sh4.3 trillion ($41,797,520,825) in 2019.
This represented 44% of the country’s GDP in 2019. According to the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA), Safaricom’s M-Pesa had an 88% share of mobile money subscriptions , despite its share of mobile money agents being 75%. “While M-Pesa continued to dominate digital payments, it has had to share the digital credit space with a number of banks and non-bank lenders,” the report said.
According to a report by The Kenya Financial Sector Deepening (FSD Kenya), there are over 100 digital credit lenders in the country. The digital credit’s uptake has increased significantly over the years; according to the 2019 FinAccess Household Survey of Kenya, 8.3% of respondents had used a digital loan app for credit.
The cost of using mobile banking and digital lending apps is however very high at around 15% interest per month for some of the lenders like Tala. The survey showed the bulk of the borrowings from the digital platforms is below $50 (Sh 500), with many as low as $1.50 (Sh 150) therefore are mainly accessed by low income earners.
According to a survey International Monetary Fund(IMF) mobile money is increasing financial inclusion in the Sub Saharan Africa region.
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