M-Pesa users are now able to transact up to Kshs 500,000 daily.
This is after Safaricom got approval from the financial services sector regulator, the Central Bank of Kenya, to increase the limits for users of its mobile money platform from the existing ceiling of Kshs 300,000 daily.
The Kshs 300,000 daily transaction limit, which applies to all mobile money services in the country, not just M-Pesa, came into being in 2020 as part of the Kenyan government’s COVID-19 relief measures.
The onset of the pandemic saw a big shift from cash transactions to cashless transactions, encouraged by the government, as many sought to avoid contact with anything that could be infectious – including other people and physical money.
The new Kshs 500,000 transaction limit on M-Pesa also means that users can hold upto half a million shillings in their M-Pesa wallets. That is to say, you can keep up to Kshs 500,000 in your M-Pesa account. However, the per transaction ceiling of Kshs 150,000 remains. So, say you need to send Kshs 400,000 to someone; you can just send Kshs 150,000 in 2 batches and then do a final transaction of Kshs 100,000. All within your Kshs 500,000 limit.
“The move is set to be a boost for businesses in the country, especially SMEs, as the share of cashless transactions continues to rise. In the last financial year to March 2023, more than 606,000 businesses were receiving payments through Lipa Na M-Pesa, with a total of Kshs 1.625 trillion transacted in the 12 months,” Safaricom says in a press statement.
While this is definitely good news for mobile money users across the country, there is also the reality of the increased transaction charges courtesy of the recently assented Finance Act 2023.
