{{South Africa and Kenya are the countries that have most significantly adopted cashless payments systems in Africa, a new global survey says.}}
Released Tuesday, The Cashless Journey report shows that 43 per cent of South Africans and 27 per cent of Kenyans had wholly adopted the cashless system for settling bills, buying goods and paying for various services at restaurants, among others, with the number rising sharply due to reliable mobile phone cash transactions.
Egypt (seven per cent) came third in the survey.
The report, which covered 33 countries across the world, observes that while other countries have been promoting use of credit cards and electronic fund transfers, Kenya’s case is unique following invention of Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile phone-based money transfer system that has since been replicated by other providers.
The Kenyan government has also embraced the technology services where billions of shillings in development funds are disbursed to beneficiaries via mobile phone money transfer. The same system is used to repay the loans advanced to various groups.
“What seems to be overlooked in the policy dialogue is that cash takes time to access, is riskier to carry, and costs a country up to 1.5 per cent of its gross domestic product,” said Peer Stein, director of access to finance advisory services at the International Finance Corporation.
“We cannot expect the journey from cash toward electronic payments to be completed overnight, yet driven by technological advances and public-private partnerships this trend has gathered significant momentum over the past few years.”
The study focuses on value of all consumer payments —$63 trillion in total spend — including those that happen beyond retail point-of-sale in supermarkets, petrol stations and restaurants that accept card payments.
The report observes that use of cashless services has tripled since 2011 when cash payments stood at $21 trillion, 34 per cent of total global consumer spend while cashless payments amounted to $42 trillion.
Belgium leads the pack with an estimated 93 per cent of transactions being cashless, France (92 per cent), and Canada at 90 per cent followed by Sweden, Australia and the Netherland.
NMG
Leave a Reply