From October 1, 2022, Kenyans who will borrow 1,000 shillings from Fuliza will enjoy 0 interest rates for the first three days in a new announcement made by the CEOs of Safaricom, KCB Group, and NCBA Bank Group.
“We have also reduced Fuliza charges by up to 50 percent to enable Kenyans to utilize the product more and have the comfortability of paying on time,” said Mr. Peter Ndegwa, the CEO of Safaricom.
Since its inception, about 33 million Kenyans have opted into Fuliza with CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge saying about 5 million Kenyans access Fuliza annually.
At the same time, Kenyans borrowed an average of 1.6 billion shillings from Fuliza, Safaricom’s M-Pesa overdraft during the first 6 months of 2022. Fuliza offers short-term loans whose uptake has been rising daily due to the biting cost of living among Kenyans.
“Our intention when launching Fuliza was not to make it a burden for Kenyans, but a product that they would love to use to solve their financial problems,” added Mr. Ndegwa.
President William Ruto made a surprise appearance at the media event. Initially, the Head of State had not been mentioned as one who would be in attendance. Planners of the event say they were taken by surprise when they were told an hour before the start that the President would be attending.
“I am here today because the product that we are talking about is about hustlers. It affects hustlers whom I am very passionate about,” said the President. The President said lenders have to work to give Kenyans products that are not only accessible but affordable.
At the same time, Ruto announced that about 5,000,000 Kenyans will be delisted from CRBs by the start of the month of November this year. “This will free so many of them who have been unable to get any formal loans from financial institutions.”
