Mobile Money records $1.68 trillion in value, 108 billion in volume of transactions

The new GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2025 reveals that in 2024, mobile money recording a significant US$1.68 trillion in in value of transactions, up 16% year-on-year, while volume of transactions also grew 20% and reached 108 billion.

Meanwhile, the number of registered wallets also reached 2.1 billion, out of which over 500 million were active on monthly basis throughout the year 2024 — which means the number of active users of mobile across the world has doubled in the last five years.

The report noted that mobile money is not just growing, but also transforming economies, indicating that it added an estimated $720 billion to global GDP by the end of 2023, including $190 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.

Per the report, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most active mobile money market, driven by growth in East and West Africa – Ghana included.

East Africa, where Kenya’s MPesa is king, led global growth in monthly active accounts, while East Asia-Pacific is catching up, thanks to enabling policies in Cambodia, Fiji, the Philippines and Vietnam.

“Mobile money has emerged as a powerful driver of financial inclusion and economic growth,” said GSMA Director General Vivek Badrinath.

Advanced Services

According to the report Mobile money is expanding beyond basic transfers, with services such as loans, savings, investments, remittance, insurance, payments and others showing strong growth.

The report indicates 44% of providers now offer credit, while about a third of provider offer savings products, with Insurance still trailing as only 28% of providers offer the service.

This is consistent with what MTN Ghana reported full year 2024, which indicated that growth in advanced services like payments, savings, loans, remittance, insurance and others far outstretched growth in basic services such as cash out, money transfer and airtime purchase.

MTN Ghana reported that whereas advance services recorded an significant 82.8% growth year-on-year, withdrawals recorded saw 45.2% growth, while transfers grew by 44.6%.

Gender Gap

Meanwhile, the report indicated that despite rising usage, women in 8 of 12 countries surveyed still face a mobile money ownership gap, and the barriers are the same age-old challenges, low digital literacy and limited awareness — though once women have accounts, they’re just as active as men.

The report noted that, to boost adoption and close the gender gap, nearly 60% of providers are rolling out digital financial literacy programs.

Source: techfocus24.com