The number of electronic money institution (IME) agents in Mozambique operating through mobile operators has again grown by 8% in three months to more than 242,000, covering the entire country.
According to statistical reports from the Bank of Mozambique, which Lusa had access to this Thursday, the total number of EMI agents reached 203,240 in September last year, and by the end of December this number had risen to 224,704, increasing to 242,510 in the first quarter.
According to the latest report, at the end of March there were IME agents in all 154 districts of the country, from the city of Maputo in the south of the country – 35,953 (more than 1,300 new agents in three months) to Larde. , Nampula province, in the north, four.
Conversely, of the country’s 154 districts, 22 still have no traditional bank branches, up from 26 in December.
There are currently three electronic money institutions in Mozambique from three mobile operators that 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 accessible for people to access financial services by simply using their mobile phone and IME agents on the street.
According to previous data from the Bank of Mozambique, Mozambique’s e-money institutions broke a transfer record in 2023, completing more than 400 million transactions.
During this period, IMEs made 401,178,582 transfers (338.5 million transactions in 2022 and 324.1 million in 2021), transferring more than 340.2 billion tags (4,860 million euros).
Also according to the Bank of Mozambique, there were 11,412,194 IME accounts in the country in 2021 and 11,975,063 the following year.
In 2023, that number skyrocketed to 16,607,021 through October alone, with banks holding nearly 5.5 million accounts.
In its 2024 budget proposal, the Mozambican government plans to continue fiscal policy reforms to “improve revenue collection”, moving in particular to “tax commissions from e-money agents and institutions.”
The mKesh mobile wallet from state-owned operator Tmcel was the first to be created in Mozambique in 2012, followed by Vodacom’s M-Pesa in 2013 and Movitel’s e-Mola the following year.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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