Ghana is now the fastest-growing mobile money market in Africa, says Bawumia
Dr Bawumia says the achievement of mobile money interoperability positions the country as the fastest-growing mobile money market in Africa
Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has announced that Ghana is now Africa’s fastest-growing mobile money market. The value of mobile money transactions in Ghana amounted to GHC32.8 billion in 2019, a 215% jump in the past two years.
Dr Bawumia said the development has been made possible by the government’s successful implementation of Mobile Money Payment Interoperability.
Addressing the youth wing of the governing New Patriotic Party in Accra to mark International Youth Day, he noted that the triangular feature of the mobile money payment interoperability has made the transfer of funds very easy for all Ghanaians.
Bank accounts bounce badk
The vice-president said about 15 million Ghanaians now have bank accounts. “Anyone with a mobile account has a bank account,” he said. “They can make payments out of it and receive interest on their balances.”
Dr Bawumia noted that the implementation of Mobile Money Payment Interoperability has moved the country away from branch banking.
“Many people did not and do not understand that we have moved away from the world of branch banking into branchless banking. You can have your bank account on your phone. You can do banking without visiting a bank branch or signing a cheque,” he said.
Power of digitisation
Mobile money transactions as of December 2019 totalled 200 million, while those of banks were just 599,000.
Dr Bawumia said the fact that about 15 million Ghanaians have accounts for transactions through the various platforms shows how beneficial digitisation of the economy has been.
“Many people did not and still do not quite understand what I meant when I said every eligible Ghanaian will be able to get a bank account. They were thinking about traditional bank accounts,” he said.
“Well, I can say without any fear of contradiction that, as a result of mobile money interoperability, over 15 million Ghanaians today (many of whom are unbanked in the traditional sense) have a bank account.
“This is a remarkable achievement and shows the power of digitisation,” he said.
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