While highly-priced hand sanitizers were disappearing from shelves, these 11 things actually became cheaper in Kenya as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
From free home workouts to pizza delivery and car insurance, following is an array of things you can get for free or on the cheap right now in Kenya.
What's Covered in This Article
Financial transactions
Transfers between mobile wallets and bank accounts
In the push for cashless payments aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, the CBK agreed with banks to zero-rate transfers between mobile wallets and the bank accounts beginning March 16, 2020 night until June 30, 2020.
Mobile money transfers
Safaricom has waived charges for those sending amounts of less than KSh 1,000. via M-pesa.
Airtel Moneyon the other end has removed transaction fees on all mobile money transfers starting March 16, 2020 night, until June 30, 2020. Thus, Airtel Money subscribers will be able to send and receive money for free .
Checking bank balances on the phone
CBK requires banks to waive transaction costs for customers checking their bank balances for a limited time as the government scales efforts to spur cashless transactions and curb transmission of the deadly virus.
Shipping
In compliance with the government directive to limit public gatherings and crowding in stores, supermarkets in Kenya are be temporarily reducing their open hours.
However, a lot of them can still be accessed online 24 hours with supermarket such as Naivas Supermarkets partnering with Glovo to offer free deliveries for orders above Ksh.1,000.
Several online product delivery service providers such as Copia are also offering free delivery of food supplies and hygiene products — with no minimum purchase for a limited period of time.
Twiga Foods has also partnered with e-commerce firm Jumia to offer free, same-day delivery of fresh produce within Nairobi and its environs.
SafeBoda is also offering free essential services delivery within Nairobi through it’s new SafeBoda Shop feature.
Tax
VAT
To mitigate the effects of COVID–19 to Kenyans, the government implemented an immediate reduction of VAT rate from 16% to 14% meaning that any vatable products are now 2% cheaper than they were pre- COVID–19
Personal income tax
To further mitigate the effects of COVID–19, the following proposed measures are awaiting gazettement:
- 100 % Tax Relief for persons earning up to Ksh 24,000
- Reduction of top rate (PAYE) from 30% to 25%
Turnover tax
The government cut turnover tax for SMEs from 3% to 1%.
Local companies also saw their resident corporate income tax rate from 30% to 25%
Fuel
The average landed cost of imported fuel has caused a dramatic drop in driving for motorist in Kenya as a consequence of the recent crash in crude oil prices.
Super Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene decrease by Ksh2.00 per litre, Ksh2.80 per litre and Ksh7.23 per litre respectively, according to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority from mid-night on Tuesday, April 14, 2020 to May 14, 2020.
Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) stocks
The coronavirus’ impact on the economy has been reflected in several major NSE stock indices which have hit a 17-year low post-covid 19 as many foreigner investors withdrew from the equities market.
As such, stock share prices generally are a lot cheaper than they were pre-covid 19 pandemic.
Restaurant food delivery
As restaurants across Kenya remain open only for takeaway food service and bars are temporarily closed to limit social gatherings, some restaurants are offering free delivery.
Others such as Jumia Food offer free lunch delivery between 11:00 am and 13:00 pm – use the code luncheats at check out.
Other restaurants have partnered with services such as UberEats and Glovo, which are offering free delivery or free trials.
Borrowing
The Central Bank of Kenya’s lowering of Central Bank Rate (CBR) by one percentage point to 7.2% is expected to have a domino effect on consumer interest rates.
This effectively is supposed to reduces interest rates by a similar margin, ultimately making it cheaper to borrow money.
Question is, will Kenyan banks implement the reduction?
Entertainment
With the covid-19 pandemic sweeping across cities in Kenya, huge aspects of millions of Kenyans’ lives have been moved to the interwebs as they hunker down in their homes.
Aside from virtual birthday parties and happy hours, there are dozens of free virtual entertainment activities right now such as virtual museum tours, virtual garden tours, national park virtual tours, virtual trip to Mars etc.
Home workouts
Your local gym may have temporarily closed, but you can still get your sweat on — at home — thanks to online exercise classes.
Many gym chains and trainers are offering online classes through their websites and’or social media pages.
Gyms such as Blink Fitness, Planet Fitness and many others are each hosting free virtual workouts via Facebook Live.
Orangetheory Fitness is posting free workout videos to its YouTube channel; while Life Time Fitness and The Body Coach TV (PE with Joe) are hosting free at-home workouts live on their YouTube channels.
