The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will restrict access to accounts of Electronic Money Issuers (EMIs) that are not linked to either a Ghana Card or tax identification number (TINs) from today – Wednesday, January 31, 2024.
Commenting on the development in a press release, the Ghana Telecommunications Chamber urged all EMIs to regularise their operations by linking accounts with their Ghana Cards or TIN if they have not already done so.
“After multiple extensive engagements with leadership of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on linking all agent accounts with the Ghana Card or TIN, the Authority magnanimously gave all EMIs up to the end of Wednesday, January 31 2024 to work with the agents and ensure they complete the linking process. Thus, all agent accounts without Ghana Cards will be blocked on the 1st of February 2024,” the Chamber said.
Despite all affected EMIs being informed about this exercise through multiple channels over the period, the ultimatum is expected to send ripples through the financial landscape.
“We understand the importance of mobile financial services in facilitating financial inclusion and economic growth in the country. We therefore remain committed to taking the needed steps to deliver convenient, secure and accessible financial services to all Ghanaians,” the Telecommunications Chamber stated.
This comes at a time when the total value of mobile money transactions in 2023 reached a historic peak, according to the Bank of Ghana January 2024 Summary of Economic and Financial Data.
The overall figure for mobile money transactions soared to GH¢1.912trillion last year – a substantial increase from GH¢1.07trillion in 2022.
For the first 10 months of 2023 alone, total mobile money transactions had already reached an unprecedented GH¢1.527trillion. Data from the Bank of Ghana indicated that December 2023 witnessed the highest mobile money transaction value, amounting to GH¢199.3billion.
Throughout the entire year of 2023, total mobile money transactions exhibited consistent growth, with each month recording values surpassing GH¢100billion. In January 2023, the value stood at GH¢130.1billion compared to GH¢76.2billion for the same period of 2022.
The trend continued with increases to GH¢134billion in February 2023 (February 2022: GH¢76.5billion) and GH¢147.5billion in March 2023 (March 2022: GH¢90.5billion). Although there was a slight dip to GH¢138.8billion in April 2023 compared to GH¢87.7billion for April 2022, it surged to GH¢159.7billion in May 2023 (May 2022: GH¢71.4billion) before a slight decline to GH¢149.4billion in June 2023 (June 2022: GH¢77.1billion).
July 2023 marked a then-record transaction of GH¢169.6billion, followed by a decline to GH¢161.8billion in August 2023. The figure further dropped to GH¢157billion in September 2023 (compared to GH¢88.2billion in September 2022) before reaching an all-time high of GH¢179.2billion in October 2023. Subsequent months saw continued growth, with November 2023 reaching GH¢185.9billion.
