Kenyans start paying more for mobile money transactions after tax increase :: Kenya

Kenyans have begun to pay higher fees for mobile money transaction following the increase in taxes by the government.

The National Treasury, in the budget presented this month, has put the excise tax on mobile money from 10% to 12%.

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Kenya's three mobile money services operators, namely Safaricom, Telkom and Airtel, protested against this new tax , noting that it would hurt the poor. .

Safaricom, the telecom leader of the East African nation, which controls about 70% of the mobile money market, has therefore decided to carry out the new charges.

Safaricom, which runs Saturday the popular mobile money service Mpesa, informed its customers that from Sunday, its rates would rise.

"In accordance with the 2018 Finance Bill and the Law on the Temporary Collection of Taxes and Fees, we have made the following adjustments to our Mpesa tariffs," the company said in a notice. important given that Safaricom has the majority of some 30 million mobile money subscribers and that millions of Kenyans rely on this service to run their businesses.

Analysts, however, were optimistic that the new charges might not affect the use of mobile money in the East African nation.
"Mobile money has become an integral part of Kenyan life and has become a basic need that many can not do without, so I think its use would not drop because of the changes," Ernest Manuyo said. , a lecturer in business management in Nairobi.

Kenyans processed 36 billion US dollars in mobile money last year, up from 33 billion in 2016.

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