Digital payments in Ghana have spiked over 11,000x over the past decade, with mobile money emerging as a key driver of economic growth, the central bank has revealed.
The number of Ghanaians using mobile money surged from just below five million in 2015 to 24 million this year, revealed Matilda Asante-Asiedu, the deputy governor at the Bank of Ghana. She was speaking at the MOBEX Africa Tech Expo and Innovation Conference in the capital, Accra.
The transacted value has recorded a staggering 1,135,000% increase in the past decade, Asante-Asiedu added.
“The value of transactions stood at 266 million Ghana cedis (about $24.7 million). Fast forward to 2025, and the landscape has transformed remarkably. Today, mobile money transactions have reached 3.02 trillion cedis,” she told the attendees.
Mobile payments have now become a vital driver of economic growth in the West African country, accounting for at least half of all formal payment flows.
According to a separate report, there are now 74 million mobile money accounts in Ghana, equating to more than two accounts each for the 35 million citizens. Additionally, there are nearly 900,000 mobile money agents nationwide—roughly one agent for every 85 Ghanaians. These agents play a vital role in financial inclusion, especially in rural areas where most residents are unbanked.
“We are no longer talking about mobile money as a novelty or an add-on. Payments are not just going digital; they are digital. And with that, the stakes go high,” the deputy governor stated.
Unlike in most Western economies, where digital payments require an internet connection, mobile money services in Ghana are accessible on offline feature phones, including via USSD.
This, according to Asante-Asiedu, “creates the possibility of genuine inclusion, where distance, literacy, or bandwidth are no longer barriers to accessing finance.”
Despite the popularity of mobile money, the top bank has been pushing the eCedi central bank digital currency (CBDC), whose pilot has been ongoing this year. In February, a BoG official said that it would launch later this year.
The eCedi will complement mobile payments, ensuring there’s minimal disruption to Ghana’s financial systems. BoG will remain cautious and rely on feedback from the pilots to guide its rollout, the deputy governor said.
Ghana’s caution is also shaped by lessons from the disastrous launch of the e-naira CBDC by its neighbor, Nigeria. The digital currency, which was the first in Africa, failed to attract users and has gradually died off, with the government now pursuing a stablecoin model.
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Source: https://coingeek.com/ghana-digital-payments-spike-to-280-billion/
