Monday
February 8
2021

Ethiopia Sees Jump in Mobile Payments Despite COVID-19

Less than 35% of Ethiopians have access to financial services. Most bank branches are clustered around Addis Ababa and other urban areas, whereas over 80% of the population lives in rural areas, according to the World Bank.

In other African countries, such conditions led to the rapid growth of mobile money and agent banking services, like M-Pesa in Kenya. These systems put financial services at the fingertips of consumers, letting them transfer money and make payments using their mobile phone. And through widespread agent networks, people could deposit and withdraw money from small shops in their village, rather than traveling long distances to a bank branch in the nearest town.

Photo courtesy of Bioversity International.

Source: Mobile Money Africa (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Coronavirus, Finance
Tags
cash transfers, financial inclusion, microfinance