(Ecofin Agency) - The number of active mobile money accounts has doubled in the world over the past five years, largely due to Africa. The continent is the leading driver of the growth of mobile money transactions but its performance hides disparities. 

Africa accounted for 66.3% of mobile money transactions in 2022, according to a report published on April 18 by the GSM Association (GSMA).  

According to the report titled  "The State of the industry report on mobile money 2023," the continent recorded $836.5 billion in mobile money transactions that year, representing a 22% growth compared to 2021.

Mobile Money activities across the globe.

Worldwide, mobile money transactions reached $1260 billion in 2022, up 13% compared to 2021. Africa accounted for 69.2% of the total number of mobile money transactions worldwide last year. The continent recorded about 45 billion transactions (+21% compared to 2021) out of a total of 65 billion transactions recorded worldwide (+19%).

The continent also accounted for 48.8% of the number of mobile money accounts worldwide. At the end of 2022, some 781 million accounts were identified on the continent (+17% compared to 2021) out of a total of 1.6 billion accounts worldwide (+13%).

The report states that it took 16 years for the mobile money industry to reach its first 800 million accounts, but only five years to amass another 800 million accounts. Africa has been the main driver of this growth, which has accelerated greatly since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in November 2019. This growth, however, hides strong disparities on the continent, which has 166 live mobile money services out of a total of 315 services worldwide.

East Africa leads the way

With 390 million registered accounts and a cumulative value of $491.8 billion in 2022, East Africa is the most dynamic sub-region, ahead of West Africa (290 million accounts and a transaction value of $277 billion) and Central Africa (65 million accounts and $57.6 billion in transaction value).

Mobile money remains underdeveloped in North Africa (18 million accounts and $4.7 billion in value) and Southern Africa (18 million accounts and $5.3 billion in value), mainly due to the relatively high level of banking in these two sub-regions.  

The report also reveals that the number of mobile money agents reached 17 million globally in 2022, representing a 41% increase over 2021. Most of this growth comes from sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of agents increased from 5.6 million in 2021 to over 10 million in 2022. This impressive increase is mainly due to a significant increase in the number of agents in West Africa, where several new mobile money services have been launched in the past year.

The GSMA also points out that mobile money use cases have significantly changed in recent years to include bill payments ($88 billion by 2022 globally), merchant payments ($78 billion), cross-border remittances ($21 billion), and mass disbursements, which refers to sending money to a large number of recipients such as employees and social benefit recipients ($80 billion), among others.

Mobile money service providers are also increasingly offering savings, insurance, and credit products, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The 2022 edition of the GSMA's Global Adoption Survey revealed in this chapter that 51% of these providers offer savings products, 53% offer loans and 18% of them allow insurance subscriptions.