The CBK just launched the National Payments Strategy 2022-2025.
It is an 85 page report and here are our key takeaways:
1. The aim of the strategy:
"...to provide a framework to guide the current and future of payment services anchored on the Vision Statement – a secure, fast, efficient and collaborative payments system that supports financial inclusion and innovations that benefit Kenyans"
2. This is a lovely summary of the Kenya's National Payments Landscape:
3. Payment Instruments in Kenya
4. The CBK does acknowledge crypto as one of the changes happening in the Global Payments Landscape:
5. Types of money:
6. They include a small intro to CBDCs and how one would work in Kenya:
7. There is a section on remittances:
"CBK plans to implement a range of measures to facilitate even more sustainable growth of remittances in Kenya, and ensure that remittance activities become cheaper, faster, secure and more transparent"
8. This focus on reducing sending money within the EAC is very good.
Btw, the cost of diaspora remittances from Tanzania to Kenya and Uganda is among the highest in Africa.
9. Higher digital adoption in Kenya has meant that there have been fewer cheques and currency in circulation as %age of GDP:
10. RTGS, mobile money and Point of sale and card transactions have been increasing.
11. Kenya's payment journey in one chart:
12. Here are the things they want to achieve under this plan:
Starting 5th May 2025, NEMA will begin implementing the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulations under the Sustainable Waste Management Act (L.N. 176 of 2024).
1/ A KES 150 levy will be introduced per item of packaging. 🧵
2/ What’s Affected?
The levy applies to nearly everything: plastic, glass, aluminium, paper, cardboard, rubber, leather, textiles, and composite packaging.
Think food wrappers, medicine boxes, cosmetic bottles, even sanitary pad packaging all fall under this.
3/ NEMA says the KES 150 will apply to "standard packaging" but that term isn’t clearly defined.
For example, if Panadol tablets are packed in strips, which come in boxes, the boxes packed into cartons, and the cartons stacked onto pallets - what exactly is considered the chargeable item?
Is it the strips, the box, the carton, or the pallet?
—The Transmission Master Plan (TMP) projects the need for an additional 9,600 km of transmission lines and a $5.2B investment by 2042 to support industrial growth and electrification.
—KETRACO is exploring Public-Private Partnerships to bridge the funding gap
2. Why PPPs?
—KETRACO projects have historically been financed through loans from development partners like the World Bank, AfDB, JICA, and Exim banks.
—The next set of funding from these partners is estimated to be available after the financial year 2028/2029.
—Total Assets: +17.7% to 3.5B
—Net Income: +8.5% to 235M
—PAT: +3.8% to 116M
—Dividend rate on deposits: 20%
—Interest rate on member deposits: 11%
2. Magereza DT Sacco:
—Total Assets: +12.7% to 7.9B
—Net Income: +33.4% to 606M
—PAT: +53.9% to 129M
—Dividend rate on share capital: 10%
—Interest rate on member deposits: 6%
10 Key Takeaways from the CBK Post-MPC Briefing by the Governor.
1. CBK is keen on the separation of Safaricom & M-Pesa:
"One of the factors that has been delaying this..is the tax liability which is fairly significant in the order of at least KES 75B & what to do with it"
2. There has been a sharp rise in remittances to Kenya this year:
"If one were to compare the first two months of 2024 (Jan & Feb 2024), we see remittances for those two months compared to the two months in 2023 have increased by more than 20%"
3. There was a slowdown in growth in credit to the private sector in Feb 2024 from 13.8% to 10.3%
"A certain amount of private sector loans is denominated in dollars & therefore, when the exchange rate appreciated the level of credit to the private sector did decline"