Data from the Central Bank of Kenya shows that cash handled by mobile money agents in the nine months to September 2022, went up by 17.6 percent.
The transactions were recorded at Ksh5.91 trillion, up from Ksh5.03 trillion in a similar period in 2021.
The data also shows higher usage of mobile money accounts than banks.
This indicates that mobile cash transactions are on course for the highest annual growth in a decade, highlighting the recovery of the country’s economy and the increased usage of cashless payments platforms.
The recovery of the economy can be attributed to the transport sector, education, information and communication, wholesale and retail trade.
Meanwhile, Nairobi county has the highest usage of mobile money services at 93.9 percent of the population, followed by Kiambu at 91 percent, Murang’a 90.4 percent, Nyeri 89.8 percent and Mombasa 88.6 percent.
This is as many Kenyans embraced cashless payments at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, making the country achieve full interoperability of M-Pesa, Airtel Money and T-Kash paybills.
Hower, Garissa, Wajir, Tana River and Marsabit counties recorded the least usage of mobile money services.