Mozambique: Mobile phone financial services soar in 2023

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Mozambique: Mobile phone financial services soar in 2023

4:53 CAT | 03 Jan 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

Mozambique’s Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs), which operate via mobile phones, broke their record for transfers in 2023, with more than 400 million operations, according to data from the Bank of Mozambique.

According to a statistical report from the central bank, with data from January to October, the EMIs totalled 401,178,582 transfers in this period – 338.5 million operations in the whole of 2022 and 324.1 million in 2021 -, moving more than 340.2 billion meticais (€4.86 billion).

Also according to the Bank of Mozambique, in 2021 the country had 11,412,194 EMI accounts and the following year 11,975,063.

In 2023, that number skyrocketed to 16,607,021, up to October alone, while the banks have almost 5.5 million accounts.

Mozambique currently has three Electronic Money Institutions, owned by the three mobile telecoms operators, which provide financial services via mobile phone, including money transfers between customers or payment for services.

This is a solution that makes it easier and more widespread for the population to access financial services using only mobile phones.

In the budget proposal for 2024, the Mozambican government plans to continue its fiscal policy reforms to “increase the level of revenue collected”, namely by “taxing the commissions of electronic money agents and institutions”.

The mKesh Mobile Wallet, from state-owned operator Tmcel, was the first created in Mozambique in 2012, followed by Vodacom’s M-Pesa in 2013 and Movitel’s e-Mola the following year.

Source: Lusa