The African continent hit a new milestone in mobile money transactions after it recorded $836.5 billion in transaction value in 2022, which was about two-thirds of the global transaction value at $1.26 trillion.
The transaction value is a significant increase from previous years, which grew by 22% between 2021 and 2022, from $1 trillion to around $1.26 trillion. However, the share of cash-based transactions in the overall transaction mix declined, with cash-in and cash-out transactions dropping nearly two percentage points. This is due to a significant rise in digital transactions, particularly interoperable bank transfers, and bill payments.
Registered mobile money accounts grew by 13% year on year, from 1.4 billion in 2021 to 1.6 billion in 2022. This can be attributed, in part, to regulatory changes in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Nigeria and Ethiopia where mobile money adoption rose rapidly.
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Also, the number of mobile money agents grew from 12 million in 2021 to around 17 million in 2022, a staggering 41% year-on-year increase. Much of this growth was in Nigeria where a liberalized regulatory regime has led to an increase in MMPs.
According to a GMSA report, in West Africa, the transaction value recorded was $277 billion, in North Africa $4.7 billion, in Central Africa $57.6 billion, in East Africa $491.8 billion, and in Southern Africa transaction value recorded was $5.3 billion.
Mobile money adoption in Africa in West Africa last year had the highest number of new accounts of all sub-regions worldwide. Within West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Senegal have been mobile money leaders, followed closely by Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali. Between 2020 and 2022, these countries were the main drivers of growth in the region.
Data from the nationally representative 2022 GSMA Consumer Survey shows that access and usage of mobile money in Nigeria have grown since the recent PSB launches. Among all adults that are aware of mobile money and have used a mobile phone, mobile money account ownership has grown from 16% to 22% in the last year. Of all adults with a mobile money account, 88% have one registered in their name.
Speaking on the growth of mobile money in different regions across the globe, the DG GSMA Mats Granryd said,
“The habit of using digital payments, enforced by the pandemic, has stuck, leading to mobile money activity growth outstripping new registrations in many countries. Some of the key contributors to the growth of mobile money in the past few years have been regulatory changes in large markets. In Nigeria, for example, new licenses have seen many new mobile money players emerge, and with this a 41% growth in the number of registered agents. Not only has this created employment for millions of new agents, but mobile money services are now accessible to more people in Africa’s largest economy.”
As the world moves towards a post-COVID era, mobile money services have continued to show resilient growth. The growth experienced in 2020 and 2021 could be attributed to pandemic-induced policy and regulatory measures, such as cash transfers and salaries being paid digitally. However, the continued rise in bulk disbursement values shows that mobile money use has been sustained beyond the peak of the pandemic.