IMF International Monetary Fund News – IMF HAILS MW MOBILE MONEY SERVICES
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said acknowledged the importance and improvement of mobile money services in Malawi. In its 2019 Financial Access Survey, IMF says that mobile money agents growth far exceeds the growth in traditional financial access points such as bank branches.
Recent figures from the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Second Quarter National Payment Systems Report, show an increase in both volume and value of retail DFS transactions.
The report shows that total volume upped by 14.5% to 72.3 million whereas the corresponding value increased by 39 percent to K1 billion. However, a comparison to the similar period in 2018 shows more pronounced movement as the volume and value increased by 46.1% and 125.3%, respectively.
The IMF report said mobile money usage has had a profound impact on the way people access finance in Malawi and other countries in the region where banking penetration is minimal.
Meanwhile, the finance minister Joseph Mwanamvekha proposed a 1% tax on all non-bank mobile money transactions, to which he faced opposition from various players in the business sector. He dropped the proposal this week, after unceasing arguments against the 1% tax.