The month of February 2024 saw a decline in the total value of mobile money transactions by GH¢195.8 billion from GH¢198.4 billion recorded in January the same year. This decline sets a worrying trend in the decrease in the value of mobile money transactions due to several factors affecting the growth of the sector. However, according to data provided by the Bank of Ghana, total registered mobile accounts saw an increase from 66.3 million to 66.9 million with active mobile money account base of 23.1 million an increase from the January figure of 22.9 million. Total active mobile money accounts for the year end 2023 stood at 22.8 million.

The electronic transfer levy or “e-levy” which took effect in May 2022 and amended in 2023 sought to widen the tax gap by roping in informal sector players into the tax bracket. According to a study conducted in Accra by the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, the tax had a likely negative impact on equity. ISSER’s study looked at the likely impact of the levy on high and low earners in the informal economy. Again, a study conducted by GSMA on the impact of mobile money revenues found that, “transaction values for P2P overall have contracted by 35% year-on-year in May 2022 and in January 2023 they were 31% lower”. Mobile Money revenues on the other hand saw a reduction of 30% from May to July 2022 and a persistent contraction of 8% at the end of January 2023. Mobile Money use was severely impacted by the introduction of the e-levy with consumers turning away from using mobile money in the 9 months following the introduction of the tax.

The data provided by BoG also showed that the value of mobile money interoperability grew in February to GH¢2 billion from GH¢1.9 billion in January 2024. By December 2023, the total value of mobile money interoperability had dropped to GH¢2.3 billion from GH¢2.5 billion.