A Bigger Float: Phones Moved KSh 728.70 Billion in July

Kenyans pushed KSh 728.70 billion through mobile money in July, KSh 46.20 billion more than in June.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Leading Economic Indicators dashboard for July puts the value moved at KSh 728.70 billion, up from KSh 682.50 billion in June. Transactions rose to 221.10 million from 212.50 million. Reported accounts edged from 94.20 million to 94.40 million. An account is not a person.

One household can hold two lines, and a dormant line still sits in the count. The useful pair is the value and the number of transfers.

A rise of KSh 46.20 billion in a month is school fees, stock for a kiosk, and rent, not a new product launch. The average transfer, if you divide the value by the count, was about KSh 3,296 in July, against about KSh 3,212 in June. That is a small move. The system got busier, and each transfer got a little larger. The Central Bank payments series is the other file for the same pipes. KNBS is the monthly dashboard a reader can open.

What the same phone is now selling

The wallet is no longer only a send button. Safaricom opened a Shari'ah fund on M-PESA from KSh 100 this week. Licensed phone lenders had issued KSh 165.10 billion by August. July's KSh 728.70 billion is the payments layer under both. A customer can pay a supplier, place KSh 100 in a fund, and owe a lender, on one line.

An older count on this site put mobile-money subscriptions near 54 million while agent outlets fell. The July dashboard is a different series, and 94.40 million accounts should not be read as 94.40 million users. For a shop the practical point is the float. More value moved in July than in June, on more transfers, through a system that now also takes savings and debt.