{"id":838795,"date":"2026-11-08T06:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T11:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=838795"},"modified":"2026-11-07T22:45:45","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T03:45:45","slug":"fuliza-borrowing-jumps-84-to-sh1-16-trillion-as-borrower-numbers-nearly-double","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/838795","title":{"rendered":"Fuliza borrowing jumps 84% to Sh1.16 trillion as borrower numbers nearly double"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kenyans borrowed Sh1.16 trillion through Safaricom’s Fuliza overdraft in the six months to September 2026, an 84 percent jump, as Fuliza customers nearly doubled to 17.2 million, the company told investors.<\/p>\n

Safaricom said at its Nairobi investor briefing that Fuliza revenue rose 86 percent to Sh4.9 billion in the half year, according to TechCabal and Tukio reports on the presentation. The average amount borrowed fell 24.6 percent to Sh192 from Sh254.60 a year earlier, a pattern that points to more frequent small top-ups rather than larger single loans. Fuliza is operated with NCBA Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank and lets M-PESA users complete payments when their wallet balance is short, with recovery when money next enters the account.<\/p>\n

Group M-PESA revenue crossed Sh100 billion for the first time in a half-year period, rising 13.6 percent to Sh100.1 billion, Safaricom’s official results release said. Credit revenue across lending products grew much faster, up 54.4 percent to about Sh7 billion, with Fuliza accounting for roughly 71 percent of that lending revenue in TechCabal’s reading of the investor materials. Repayments on Fuliza reached Sh1.15 trillion, or 99.6 percent of disbursements, down from 102.4 percent a year earlier. Safaricom did not publish a Fuliza non-performing loan ratio in the materials cited.<\/p>\n

On X, Kenyan users treated the headline figure as a stress signal. One post called Sh1.16 trillion “not prosperity” but “desperation,” linking the surge to fuel, fare and food price pressure. Another calculated about Sh6.3 billion a day in average Fuliza advances. These posts are public reaction, not audited household surveys.<\/p>\n

Safaricom Group CEO Peter Ndegwa said behavioural scoring and multiple funding partners were helping the company “extend responsible credit” and manage portfolio risk, according to TechCabal. The company’s official release separately said Kenya EBIT surpassed Sh100 billion for the first time in a six-month reporting period and that Ethiopia start-up losses narrowed sharply. Fuliza\u2019s figures concern Kenya\u2019s mobile credit demand.<\/p>\n

Spread across the 183 days from April through September, the Sh1.16 trillion in advances averages roughly Sh6.3 billion a day, a figure Kenyan commentators repeated as they argued over whether the product is a convenience tool or a symptom of squeezed household cash. Safaricom has not broken out how much of the growth came from new borrowers versus higher frequency among existing users.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n