Mobile money wallet transactions in both volume and value have grown by an impressive 627 per cent and 1068 per cent respectively in the five year period to 2020, says Reserve Bank of Fiji governor Ariff Ali.
Speaking at the launch of the Bank of Baroda-Vodafone Fiji M-PAiSA Integration Partnership yesterday, Mr Ali said in December 2020, offshore remittance through mobile money channels increased by over 300 per cent to around 10 per cent of total remittance inflow of $820 million.
“As of August this year, it has further increased by around 160 per cent accounting for just under 20 per cent of total remittance inflows.”
Vodafone Fiji’s chief marketing officer Rajnesh Prasad revealed that they were receiving about $20m per month in international money transfer and for this month were on track to set another record.
Mr Prasad said local person-to-person money transfers hit a record $92m in August and was expected to grow further.
“We are now processing around $160m in M-PAiSA transactions each month and expect to do around $1 billion in total transactions for the year 2021,” said Mr Prasad.
Meanwhile Mr Ali says these numbers would continue to increase as Government and the private sector disburse and receive funds through electronic channels coupled with the increase in remittances through mobile money service providers.
“In essence, the preference to use mobile money transfer services to disburse Government payments and remittances shows the increased public trust in this platform,” said Mr Ali.
