Ghana: Mobile money surpassed cheque transactions by massive ¢522.9 billion in 8 months

The Bank of Ghana has stated that mobile money transactions have far exceeded cheque transactions by a massive ¢522.9 billion for the first eight months of this year. ¢522.9 billion. This is compared to a little about ¢374 billion recorded in the first half of this year.

It indicates that majority of retail consumers now prefer and have accepted mobile money as their mode of payments than cheque.

For the first eight months of this year, total mobile money transactions were estimated at ¢657.6 billion. This is against cheque transactions of ¢134.7billion.

Importantly, mobile money transactions so far this year have gone up significantly, compared to that of last year.

The month with the biggest transaction was July 2021 whereby ¢99 billion was recorded.

According to the data from the Bank of Ghana, the value of mobile money transactions in January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2021 were estimated at¢67.1 billion, ¢67.9 billion, ¢82.3 billion, ¢83.8 billion, ¢86.5 billion, ¢89.1 billion, ¢99.1 billion and ¢81.8 billion respectively.

Growth of cheque transactions have however remained flat, compared to that of last year.

Cheque transactions in January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2021 were estimated at ¢17.0 billion, ¢15.5 billion, ¢18.3 billion, ¢17.5 billion, ¢15.7 billion, ¢17.9 billion, ¢16.4 billion and ¢16.4 billion in January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2021 respectively.

Gradually, retail financial transactions are relegating cheque transactions to the background.

Banks will therefore have to consistently reposition themselves so that they would not be left out of the share of mobile money transactions.

 Fast forward, cheque will become the primary mode of transactions for largely wholesale or corporate consumers who have no choice but to issue them for payments, because of the large chunk of money involved in the transactions.

The Bank of Ghana e-Cedi which is in a pilot stage is expected to boost the cash lite agenda.