As many as 632,123 people used either M-PAiSA and MyCash for mobile money services in 2022, with person to person transfers amounting to $782.4 million in 2022, states the Reserve Bank of Fiji in its 2022 annual report that was tabled in Parliament on Monday.
The RBF said mobile money services provided by Vodafone Fiji and Digicel Fiji continued to experience record growth during the review period driven by bulk disbursements of cash by Government and other institutions, inward remittances through the channel and surging customer demand for the service as reflected by cash deposits and payments.
“The total value of electronic money (e-money) in circulation rose by 53.6 per cent to $83.6m at the end of July 2022,” said the RBF.
“Furthermore, the number of registered and active mobile money accounts (that is, those that have transacted at least once in the 90 days to the reporting period) stood at 632,123 and 482,685 respectively; lower than the last review period (15.7 per cent and 11.1 per cent) when Government’s use of mobile money for disbursements of COVID-19 assistance peaked.
“During the year, the value of person-to-person (P2P) transfers increased by 341.7 per cent to $782.4m on the back of a notable increase in the number of P2P transfers by 316.5 per cent to 12 million transactions.
“As at 31 July 2022, a total of 1.1 million inward remittances transactions valued at $272.8m were recorded, an increase of 115 per cent and 100.8 per cent respectively.
“Major source markets for mobile money remittances include Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States who account for 97.4 per cent of total remittances received through mobile money during the reporting period.
“Activity on eTransport, Fiji’s mandatory electronic card-based payment service for buses that leverages Vodafone Fiji’s M-PAiSA platform, rebounded slightly in activity over the review period as the nation gradually moved away from COVID-19-related restrictions.
“For the 12-month period ending June 2022, over 11.0 million top-up transactions were recorded valued at $80.2m. When compared to the same period in 2021, the value of top-up transactions increased by 2.7 per cent whereas the number of top-up transactions declined by 7.9 per cent.”
