President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday said Kenya will continue leveraging on new technologies to deepen financial inclusion and enhance service delivery.
He said the country is registering impressive successes in the deployment of technological solutions in various sectors of the economy especially in financial inclusion and in enhancing efficiency in the delivery of public services.
“Riding on mobile phone financial services, access to financial services in Kenya has more than tripled from 26 percent in 2006 to 82 percent in 2019,” Kenyatta said.
The President spoke on Monday eveningwhen he delivered the key note address at the ongoing inaugural Afro-Asia FinTech Festival.
The two-day financial technology (Fintech) conference is the first of its kind globally and is jointly organized by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and brings together thousands of delegates from Africa and Asia.
Kenyatta called on Africa and Asia to work together to build more robust digital economies adding that Kenya is open to work with other governments and private bodies in leveraging innovations for technology driven financial inclusion.
While citing several of Kenya’s leading innovations among them MPesa, the President said the country will continue leveraging on technology to enhance its tax collection through the iTax and provision of services to the public through the e-Citizen platforms.
He listed several other Kenyan innovations such as M-KOPA, a service delivery innovation in the power and lighting sub sector that has enabled many rural households to receive solar lighting gadgets.
Kenyatta also talked about M-Akiba, which provides a savings mechanism for ordinary Kenyans who can save a dollar a day, and at the end of 30 days invest in government securities.
Delegates attending the seminal conference include inventors, entrepreneurs, technology scholars, researchers, media and university students drawn from 30 countries spread across five continents.
Kenyatta said digital economies will help Africa expand opportunities to bring prosperity for more people.
He called on Asian governments and companies to partner with Africa to build stronger digital bridges between the economies of the two continents.
JK/abj/APA