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3 items tagged "Remittance"
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2:55
Money Transfer in Kenya Evolves
» bankelele Money Transfer in Kenya Evolves -
Mobile phones lower the cost of business
» bankelele Money Transfer Within Kenya Part 3
A comment from @alykhansatchu on Money transfer lead to an update of the first post about money transfer from about 3 ½ years ago before the advent of mobile money transfers.
At that time, the cost of sending 10,000 shillings (then about $136) within Kenya was Kshs. 1,700 ($23) with Western Union and 1,850 ($25) with Moneygram - working out to a remittance cost of about 17% - 19% for an instant money transfer. This was mostly done at a few commercial bank branches, some foreign exchange bureaus, and at post offices around the country within banking hours.
90% savings: A lot has happened in the last few years mainly in the form of the arrival of money transfers via mobile phones by MPesa from Safaricom and more recently Zap from Zain.
A recent post last week noted that Western Union in Kenya have just lowered transfer costs to flat rates of 2% i.e. almost 88% cheaper than what they were at the time.
In the last few years, millions of Kenyans have moved on to mobile phones for money transfer and I can’t recall anyone who uses banks for these transactions. Mobile phone have maximums of about $430 (35,000 shillings) for money transfers, but this is more than enough to cater for most remittances, including the emergencies that necessitate instant transfers.
And mobiles are still cheaper; the 2% western union charge to transfer 10,000 shillings works out to about 200 shillings. A transfer of the same amount by Zap costs 75 shillings (0.75%) and 105 shillings (1.05%) by M-Pesa (after combining sender and receiver fees)
International remittance to get cheaper?: Zain hope to link Zap to allow transfers to customers of Zain in different African countries. And Safaricom are setting up a link for transfers from the United Kingdom to Kenya. When these are established, we should also see the cost of internal remittances, whose sometime high cost is a cause for complaint for many Africans in the Diaspora, also drop significantly. -
Diaspora impacting the Shilling
» bankelele Another group trooped to the Governor of the Central Bank, lamenting about the strength of the Kenya shilling against the dollar, and its negative impact on exports - asking for intervention, or exchange rate controls to weaken the shilling.
But is it possible and how? According to economist Dr. David Ndii, the Central Bank is largely unable to control currency and inflation rates. Inflation because a large part of the economy is informal (and unbanked), and the shilling because of remittances.
Remittances grew from ¼ to almost 1/3 of export earnings and grew by 43% compared to exports which grew by 13% from 2005 to 2006.
So unless authorities crack down on money transfers, or asks Kenyans in the diaspora to channel their funds through more productive avenues and investments, this is likely to continue. And with Equity bank and Safaricom poised to enter the international money transfer business, the reach of the diaspora to rural Kenya is about to take another leap forward.
Ultimately we all hope the strong shilling can lead to a lower fuel bill for the country ad petroleum prices impact so many aspects of the economy including the cost of production for exporters.
Opportunities
most from the daily papers this week
Executive secretary at the Africa capacity building foundation based in Zimbabwe. D/l is 31/8
Dozens of executive positions at the new Africa financial corporation to be headquartered in Lagos. . Details at KPMG site and d/l is 15/7
Baker tilley merali CPA: audit manager, senior audit professionals. Apply to reception@meraliscpa.com
Senior advisor Kenya at Danida. Apply online
Governance advisor Kenya, at DFID - the British government department for international development. Apply to dfidgov@adeptsystems.co.ke by 23/7
Elizabeth Glaser pediatric aids foundation: finance/HR manager, finance/admin assistant. Apply to mkihoro@pedaids.org by 23/7
Non executive board chairman at the Emerging Africa infrastructure fund. D/L is 31/7
Express advertising: account director, PR & events manager, media manager. Apply to Monty@expressad.co.ke by 19/7
First Community Bank - Kenya's first Islamic bank. Vacancies include head of risk management, head of corporate banking, head of retail banking, head of operations, head of treasury. Apply to fcb-vacancies@ahmedabdi.com by 20/7
Industrial promotion services aka IPS: business process re-engineering managers /officers and
food sector business development officers. Apply to HR@ipskenya.com by 30/7
Kenya airways has finally embraced the online application process. Current vacancies include IS officer, automations service manager, licensed engineer, technicians as well as pilots and cabin crew.
General manager at Kisii bottlers limited. Apply to jobs@afr.ko.com by 18/7
Managing editor - quality & product development at KTN. d/l is 12/7
International jobs can be viewed at the Kenya Ministry of Foreign Affairs website
Nation media group. Writers, also Internet sub editor.
TNT international: sales account manager, sales administrator, IS administrator. Apply to
hr@tntkenya.com by 20/7
Senior malaria advisor at USAID. check online and d/l is 20/7
World Bank young professionals program d/l is 15/7
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