Mobile money transactions up by GHS 29.6 billion

The value of mobile money transactions grew by GHS 29.6 billion between October 2019 and October 2020, according to recent data from the Bank of Ghana.

The data shows that the value of mobile transactions increased from GH¢28.4 billion in October 2019 to GH¢58.0 billion in October 2020.

This corresponds to the increment in the total number of transactions from 188 million in October 2019 to 278 million in October 2020.

The increment represents a 104.2 % growth in the value of transactions in the period under review.

Even though the total number of transactions has increased from 271 million in September to 278 million in October 2020, the total value of mobile transactions has however dropped from GH¢ 58.8 billion in September 2020 to GH¢ 58.0 billion in October 2020.

The recent month-on-month decline in the total value of transactions of GH¢ 0.8 billion is akin to a drop recorded between March and April where the transactions dropped by GH¢ 1.0 billion.

Figure 1 total value of mobile money transactions (GH¢ ‘billion)

At the end of Q1 2020, the total value of mobile transactions stood at GH¢33.8 billion. It declined to GH¢32.8 billion in April before increasing to end the Q2 at GH¢45.3 billion in June. The decline in April depicts the impact of the lockdown on economic activities in the country. The easing of restrictions resulted in the increment in the value of transactions from May.

In Q2 alone, the value of mobile money transactions increased by 12.5 billion representing 38.1% growth. In Q3 the value of transactions however increased by 6.3 billion, a 12% increase. The GH¢ 0.8 billion declines in the value of transactions between September and October represents a drop of 1.4%.

The data also shows that the number of registered mobile money accounts have also increased from 31.3 million in October 2019 to 36.9 million in October 2020. The additional registered mobile money accounts of 5.6 million represent year-on-year growth of 17.9%.

On a month-on-month basis, the number of registered accounts went up by 1 million from 35.9 million in September 2020. In July 2020, the total number of registered accounts stood at 33.7 million and this rose to 34.5 million in August. This shows that the number of registered accounts increased by 2.2 million between July and September (Q3).  

The total number of accounts does not tell the true story of the patronage of mobile money in the country.  Bank of Ghana therefore provided data on the number of active mobile money accounts over the period under review. Out of the 36.9 million registered accounts as of October 2020, only 16.9 million were active.

This shows that only 45.8% of the total registered accounts are active. This is an improvement over the 44.7% recovered in October 2019, where 14 million of the total registered accounts of 31.3 million were active.  Active mobile money accounts are the number of accounts that transacted at least once in the 90 days before reporting.

In the period under review, registered agents increased from 289 thousand in October 2019 to 402 thousand in October 2020. The additional 113 thousand agents represent a 39 % growth in the number of registered agents.

However, out of the 289 thousand registered agents in October 2019, only 222 thousand were active. Similarly, only 316 thousand out of the 402 thousand registered agents were active at the end of October 2020. Active agents are agents who transacted at least once in the 30 days before reporting.