Findings in the electronic payment data from the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that Nigeria’s adoption of e-payment channels is highly encouraging.
While the value of PoS transactions rose MoM by 8.8 percent to N826.3 billion in December from N759.28 billion in November 2022, the volume of Point of Sales (PoS) transactions fell Month-on-Month (MoM) by just two percent to 85.2 million in December 2022 from 86.7 million in November.
Further analysis showed that the volume of Mobile Interscheme (Mobile transfers) rose MoM by 19.7 percent to 105.17 million from 87.8 million in November and its value increased by 18.5 percent to N2.49 trillion from N2.10 trillion in November.
The data also showed that the volume of NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) rose MoM by 14 percent to 561 million in December from 492 million in November and its value increased by 8.02 percent to N42.02 trillion in December from N38.9 trillion in November.
Insights also proved that the volume of electronic payment transactions rose MoM by 7.5 percent to 1.14 billion in December 2022 from 1.06 billion in November 2022.
Similarly, the value of e-payment transactions increased MoM by 8.3 percent to N46.09 trillion in December from N42.56 trillion in November. This reflects Nigerians’ increased adoption of e-payment channels during the festive period.
These insights speak volume. From these data, Consumertrics reports that most commercial transactions in Nigeria no longer rely heavily on cash. It used to be estimated that more than 95% of commercial transactions in the country are cash dependent. But not anymore!
Besides, heavy cash usage allocates huge money outside the formal economy. This contributes to limiting the effectiveness of monetary policy in managing inflation and stimulating growth.
