On October 21, 2015, a Khs 5-billion infrastructure bond will be opened to Kenyans to buy in via M-Akiba, the Kenyan government infrastructure that allows unbanked Kenyans buy government bond directly using mobile money. The 5 billion infrastructure bond offer will be the first since the government announced M-Akiba in June.
For now, the program operates exclusively off of Safaricom’s mPesa, which processed over 87% of transactions within Kenya in 2014.
The program will allow mPesa users are able open depository accounts with the Kenyan central bank on their mobile and buy government bond for minimum of Khs 3,000 ($28). Prior to m-Akiba, the minimum buy in was pegged at Khs 50, 000.
“M-Akiba is a one-of-a-kind initiative and the first such product anywhere in the world,” Treasury Secretary Rotich told Bloomberg.
The amount of bond that can be bought via m-Akiba by an individual is capped at Khs 140,000.
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