MoMo transactions hit GHS 76.2bn in January 2022
The Bank of Ghana in its Summary of Economic and Financial Data has revealed that Mobile Money transactions in January this year grew by 13.56% year-on-year to GHS 76.2 billion.
This is higher than the GHS 67.9bn recorded same period last year, but however, lesser than the end-December 2021 period which stood at GHS 82.9bn due to the Christmas festivities.
Based on the trend of Mobile Money transactions in 2021, one cannot conclude that there has been a decline in transactions due to the anticipated approval of the Electronic Transaction Levy.
This is because there was a month-on-month fluctuation in Mobile Money transactions in 2021.
In terms of Mobile Money Interoperability, GHS 2.1bn was recorded in January 2022, higher than the GHS 906m registered in January 2021.
The registered Mobile Money Accounts also stood at 48.4 million in January 2022, up from 48.3 million in December 2021.
Undoubtedly, Mobile Money remained the biggest payment solution in the country with an estimated GHS 905.1bn transactions recorded in 2021.
According to data from the Bank of Ghana, the value of mobile money transactions in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2021 were estimated at GHS 67.1 billion, GHS 67.9 billion, GHS 82.3 billion, GHS 83.8 billion, GHS 86.5 billion, ¢89.1 billion, GHS 99.1 billion, GHS 81.8 billion, GHS 71 billion, GHS 80.0 billion, GHS 86.1 billion and GHS 82.9 billion respectively.
Meanwhile, Mobile Money transaction for last year, striped cheque transactions by a massive GHS 770.4 billion according to data from the Bank of Ghana.
This is compared to the about GHS 522.9 billion recorded in the eight months of 2021.
Mobile money continues to remain the biggest payment solution in the country with an estimated GHS 905.1 billion transactions recorded in 2021.
Cheque transactions stood at GHS 134.7 billion during the period, indicating that many customers particularly retail consumers now prefer mobile money as the easiest form of payment transactions because of its accessibility and reliability.
Significantly, mobile money transactions in 2021 shot up compared to the previous year. The month with the biggest transaction was in July in which GHS 99 billion was recorded.
On the other hand, cheque transactions in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2021 were estimated at GHS 17.0 billion, GHS 15.5 billion, GHS 18.3 billion, GHS 17.5 billion, GHS 15.7 billion, GHS 17.9 billion, GHS 16.4 billion, GHS 16.4 billion, GHS 15.6 billion, GHS 16.2 billion, GHS 18.5 billion and GHS 18.9 billion respectively.
Increasingly, mobile money transaction is relegating cheque transactions to the background.
Banks will therefore have to dig deep to innovate and come up with solutions similarly to that of mobile money to compete.
Alternatively, they could partner the telecommunication networks to take advantage of the fast growing market.
