Safaricom announces new M-PESA price reduction starting in January

As part of different measures to help the country better weather the Covid-19 Pandemic, Safaricom announced the temporary zero-rating of M-PESA transactions in March.

The Central Bank of Kenya under the leadership of Dr. Patrick Njoroge has been instrumental in the formulation of this and other measures across the financial sector which have resulted in significant gains in the form of the ongoing economic recovery.

As guided by the Central Bank of Kenya and taking into account the Principles on the Pricing of Mobile Money Services, the company has taken the decision to reduce our M-PESA tariffs by up to 45% for lower value transaction bands. This is in consideration of the expiry of the period for the zero-rated M-PESA transactions and the ongoing Covid-19 and economic circumstances. 

These tariff reductions will affect more than 90 percent of all customer transactions when sending money. It will now cost KES 6 to send between KES 101 and KES 500, down from KES 11. Transactions of between KES 1,501 and KES 2,500 will cost KES 32 down from KES 41.

Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom PLC

All transactions of KES 100 and below will remain free. In addition, all M-PESA customers will continue to enjoy free transactions between M-PESA and bank accounts.

The price cuts are permanent, effective 1st January 2021 and will enable our more than 26.8 million customers to continue enjoying lower costs whenever they send money.

Safaricom’s new, reduced tariffs will equally apply to transactions for micro-Businesses under our new Pochi La Biashara service, and for Lipa Na M-PESA businesses using the Transacting Till to make payments.