…Transcations grow by 16. 7 per cent
BY DELISA THWALA
MANZINI – What are we doing today?
Above is the new slogan by MTN Eswatini and it would seem they did a lot this year as the sixth issue of the financial stability report (FSR) 2022 Mobile Money systems has revealed that the value of Mobile Money transactions has grown by 16.7 per cent from E1.9 billion in June 2021 to E2.2 billion in June this year.
It was also disclosed that volume of transactions increased significantly by 8.6 per cent from 9.9 million in June 2021 to 10.8 million in June 2022. The report was sourced from FSR website.
The FSR fully fledged report mentioned that escrow account balances increased by 24.0 per cent from E218.1 million in June 2020 to E270.6 million in June 2021, with an 11.3 per cent increase in the year ending June 2022.
“The surge in mobile money transactions partly reflects measures taken by the CBE and other stake- holders that allowed for free mobile money transactions, free wallet- to-bank and bank-to-wallet trans- actions with mobile network operators, and the removal of limits on frequency of transactions from March 2020 to date,”read the report.
According to the report going forward as the government continued to encourage the use of non- cash payments in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic to limit infections, the use of mobile money services increased and consequently contributed to financial sector deepening.
The report further stated that the use of digital payment products picked up further in the year to December 2021, partly driven by actions taken by financial institutions to promote the use of cash- less transactions as a measure to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
