Thanks to the restricted physical movement that Covid and lockdowns has forced on consumers, LPM (local payment method) figures seem to be heading straight for the stratosphere.
According to a Lithuanian fintech company, the total value of mobile money transactions in emerging markets is predicted to exceed $870 billion in 2026.
Nowhere else is this growth more evident than south of Africa’s equator where consumers, as elsewhere on the continent, simply don’t have the same financial facilities available to them as elsewhere in the world.
According to the start-up, “this growth tendency can also be seen in sub-Saharan Africa, where mobile payments are expected to grow by over 60% in the next five years.
“Seen as one of the prominent payment trends in emerging markets for 2022, mobile payments are emphasising the importance of LPMs, and could open up the African market to a number of global e-commerce opportunities.”
Frank Breuss, CEO of Nikulipe, notes that this payment trend has grown popular due to the particular circumstances in which sub-Saharan Africa finds itself.
“More than half of the African population remains without a traditional bank account even today, so solutions like mobile payments are most convenient for the region.
“Mobile phones are widely available across the region, making mobile money payments the primary way for Africans to pay for goods and services like groceries, food delivery or taxi rides, or even utility bills.”
The company has found that while mobile payment penetration varies from one sub-Saharan African country to another, at the end of 2020, 495 million people were using mobile services, which represents 46% of the region’s population.
“It is predicted that by 2025 this number will reach 615 million — equivalent to 50% of the region’s population.
“This shows that LPMs will remain an important part of not only sub-Saharan Africa’s but also fast-growing and emerging markets’ e-commerce growth.”
