Ghana’s financial inclusion agenda is very much on course in every aspect especially with regards to the usage of mobile money in the country. Growth in the number of registered Mobile Money users in the country has been tremendous in the last decade.
According to recent data from the Bank of Ghana, the number of registered mobile money accounts has gone up by 4.3 million between January and June (H1) this year. Currently, there are a total of 44.3 million registered accounts as of the end of June 2021, up from 40.0 million in January. This means that within the first six months of the year, the number of users went up by 10.75%.
As of the end of June 2020, there were 33.1 million registered accounts in the country, culminating into a year-on-year growth of 33.8 % when compared with the current figure in June 2021.
Rise in active MoMo users
There has also been a parallel growth in the number of active mobile money accounts over the years, even though not as high as one would have expected. Of the 44.3 million registered accounts, only 18.3 million of them are active accounts as of the end of the first quarter of the year. In percentage terms, it means only 41.3% of the people who registered for mobile money actively use their accounts to transact.
Yet, a year-on-year analyses show that active mobile money accounts have also gone up by 2.8 million, up from 15.5 million as of the end of June 2020, a growth of 18.08%.
Furthermore, the rise in the registered mobile money accounts also continue to reflect in the number of transactions as well as their values. In the first six months of the year, total number of transactions rose by 37 million, up from 301 million in January 2021 to 338 million as of End-June 2021. On the contrary, total number of transactions as of the end of June 2020 was 226 million which means a year-on-year growth of 49.6% when compared to the current value.
Rise in the value of Transactions
It is worth noting that a rise in the number of transactions is of no significance to the economy if the value of these transactions do not reflect in the numbers documented by the Central Bank.
Luckily, the data from the bank of Ghana points to a corresponding rise in the value of mobile transactions over the years. In the first half of the year, the value of mobile transactions rose from GH¢67.1 billion at the end of January to GH¢89.1 billion at End-June 2021, representing a growth rate of 32.79 % in six months.
Also, the growth of the value of transactions through MoMo is very much on the high over the past one year. According to the Bank of Ghana, as of the end of June last year, total value of mobile transactions stood at GH¢45.3 billion.
As a result, comparing this to the current value means that the value of mobile transactions has gone up by 96.7%. This could possibly depict the gradual shift from the use of physical transactions to digital payment platforms, mostly driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. This will not only speed up transactions, but also reduce transaction costs as well as limit the spread of the virus. Should the usage of mobile money continue in this pace, Ghana will soon achieve its drive to move towards a cashless economy but it must make frantic efforts to address security issues regarding the use of MoMo.
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