Mobile money transactions could drop significantly going forward, following the implementation of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) from May 1^st, 2022.

A day ahead of the implementation, there were massive withdrawals by a cross-section of Ghanaians.

Joy Business spoke to some mobile money agents who expressed their frustrations about the E-Levy.

One of them said though E-Levy was instituted for a good purpose, lack of adequate education is fuelling fears among consumers that they will pay more for transactions.

“As you know the E-levy has come for good purpose, but the business [Mobile Money] has dropped because of the E-levy. Everybody is trying to withdraw his or her money from the mobile money.”

“Since yesterday [30^th April, 2022], people have been struggling to take their money from their mobile money. So the E-levy, it has come to do good things, but on the other hand you can see that business has dropped”, he pointed out.

He further added that “consumers are angry because of the E-levy. Though E-levy will help, but people are not happy with it.

Another mobile money agent said the E-levy has slowdown business, as consumers are rather withdrawing their funds.

“Business is slow. Most people are withdrawing their monies because of the charges that they will pay. Most people are rushing to cash out their monies, but we hope it will normalise”.

He further said “people complained when they come to withdraw their monies. Because of the charges, they are withdrawing their monies.”

Other mobile money agents are however hopeful the mass withdrawal will cease with time since Ghanaians cannot do away without mobile money transactions.

One of them said “I think with time, people will get use to the system. I mean we’ve come this far and there is no way we can’t do with mobile money. It’s something that we have to do especially those of us living in Accra and has to send monies to our parents outside the capital city.”

“E-levy, if it’s going to be used for a good purpose, I think is a good idea. We can’t complain much”, he stressed.

The E-levy is expected to generate a little above ¢4.5 billion in 2022.

Mobile money transactions in January 2022 was ¢76.2 billion, compared with ¢67.1 billion in January 2021.

In October 2021, November 2021 and December 2021, mobile money transactions stood at ¢80 billion, ¢86.1 billion and ¢82.9 billion respectively.