Kenya’s government announced the world’s first Treasury bond to be offered exclusively via mobile phone.

The five-year, KES5 billion ($50 million) M-Akiba infrastructure bond will be offered to the public via Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile money service. The bond offer opens on 16 October.

In a move designed to boost take-up of the bond, the government reduced the size of bond increments that can be purchased from KES50,000 to KES3,000.

“In three weeks over 23 million Kenyans will have the potential to participate in a KES5 billion government infrastructure bond. This historical development is testament of our commitment to embrace innovation to democratise the uptake of government securities,” according to National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich.

“Over the years, 98 per cent uptake in government bonds has been by institutional investors, with only two per cent going to individual investors – and this has left out many Kenyans from participating in raising funds for nation building,” he added.

Upon maturity of the bond, the principle amount and interest from the bond will be paid through M-Pesa.