MoMo transactions record over 160% increase

Mobile money transaction volume rose to GH₵ 83.8 million in April 2020, data from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has shown.

The value represents a 160% increment in value compared to the same period in 2020.

The figure indicates a modest 1.8% increment on the ₵ 82.3 million that was transacted in March of 2021.

This dramatic increment points to the integral role mobile money transactions have come to play in the Ghanaian economy.

The value of transactions in April of 2021 was accrued from 323 million individual transactions, which were 13 million transactions fewer than what the BoG registered in March of this year.

In April of 2020, there were 182 million mobile money transactions.

These transactions have not been inhibited by the challenge posed to market leader MTN by other mobile money operators as well as cashless platforms.

Observers have attributed this development to mobile money interoperability, the cross-network transaction avenue which is part of the BoG’s Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GHIPSS).

Indeed, the figures at the end of April showed nearly ₵ 1.37 billion in value via 8.5 million interoperability transactions. In the same month of 2020, only ₵ 180 million was transacted in the process in 2.3 million transactions.

There seemed to be a corresponding rise in the number of registered and active mobile money agents or vendors in Ghana in terms of the growth in value.

There are now about 485,000 registered mobile money agents in Ghana, and 386,000 of them are active by the BoG’s criteria.

These two sets of data are the most recorded by authorities since mobile money was introduced over a decade ago.

Many more Ghanaians are also increasingly relying on this form of the cashless payment system, as shown by the fact of 42.1 million registered mobile money accounts at the end of April 2021. About a third of these accounts, 17.2 million, are deemed active.