An economist and political risk analyst has disclosed a drastic reduction in mobile money transactions since November 2021.
According to Dr. Theophilus Acheampong, the decline is a result of the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) which was first announced in Parliament by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta in November 2021.
He noted that data from the Bank of Ghana’s quarterly statistics (i.e the Summary of Economic and Financial data) suggests that mobile money patronage has dropped significantly in the past three months.
Per his calculations, “If you look at November when the idea was originally proposed, the actual value of MoMo was about GH¢86 billion Ghana Cedis. In December of last year, it dropped to GH¢82.9 billion, and in January of this year it is actually, GH¢76.2 billion."
“So over the course of about three months, we almost see a 10 to 12% reduction in the value of the transactions that are taking place."
Dr Acheampong explained that the levy could largely derail the digitization agenda because consumers have not accepted the E-Levy.
Speaking in an interview on Joy News, he said, “In the short to medium term, the value and the volume of transactions will come down as consumers adjust to it and we would see a lot more cash now being utilized within the system which would serve as a disincentive to the whole digitalized inclusion agenda."
Dr Acheampong added that although the levy is unnecessary, government must ensure it doesn’t derail the digital inclusion agenda.
Meanwhile, the controversial E-Levy has been assented into law by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo despite stiff opposition against it by section of Ghanaians, lawmakers, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.
The rate of the Levy has also been revised to 1.50 percent which will cover all electronic transactions including mobile money payments, bank transfers among others.
