Bangladesh ( Commonwealth) _ According to a Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) report released in the first half of 2024, Bangladesh is still leading the way in South Asia’s adoption of mobile money, which has a big impact on financial inclusion and economic growth
According to the “The State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2024” research, mobile money usage is rising quickly worldwide, with almost $2.7 million (about Tk33 crore) being transacted via mobile phones every minute in 2023.
A non-profit organization with its headquarters in London, GSMA represents mobile network providers all over the world. According to the report, the expansion of mobile money immediately boosts the economy, greatly improving people’s lives and means of subsistence.
A 10-percentage point rise in mobile money usage can boost a nation’s GDP by 0.4% to 1.0%, according to GSMA’s analysis of data from 2013 to 2022. The standard for business Google News Stay informed by subscribing to The Business Standard’s Google News channel.
Bangladesh, too, exhibits this worldwide trend. In this case, the biggest factor promoting financial inclusion is mobile financial services (MFS). These days, MFSs offer more than just cash-in, cash-out, and money-transfer services. Additionally, the MFS systems facilitate all forms of payments, including utility bill payments, donations, salary disbursements, stipend disbursements, and more. The bKash platform also offers savings and loan options.
Additionally, with just a few clicks, MFS like bKash have made it simpler than ever for Bangladeshis living abroad to send money home. The GSMA research states that there were 1.75 billion registered MFS accounts globally in 2023, a 12% rise from the year before. These accounts transacted 1.4 trillion US dollars in 2023, a 14% increase over 2022.
The global GDP benefited from mobile money to the tune of $600 billion between 2013 and 2022. Due to all of these factors, mobile money has emerged as the most significant financial inclusion tool in the world.
There were 18.6 million registered agents globally in 2023, a 22% rise from the year before.
Among mobile money services, international remittance growth was the fastest in 2023. Mobile phone remittances worldwide climbed 33% from $22 billion in 2022 to $29 billion in 2023. Merchant payments reached $74 billion, a 14% rise.
In 2022, the average transaction per active account was $163, but in 2021, it was $169. Transactions between banks and mobile devices have also grown. The transaction amount in the region was $210 billion in 2023, representing a 250% rise over 2020 and a 50% increase over the year before.
In January 2023, GSMA performed a consumer study in eight countries, including Bangladesh. The poll found that mobile money awareness had greatly increased in Bangladesh. This is more common in Bangladesh than in many other nations, with 81% of men and 72% of women knowing about it.
Additionally, according to the poll, 49% of Bangladeshi adult male mobile phone users had mobile money accounts. This percentage is 21% for women. Bangladesh is ahead of Pakistan, Indonesia, and India in this respect. Bangladesh is behind only Senegal and Kenya.
In 2023, there were 400 million mobile money accounts in South Asia, according to the GSMA estimate. In 2023, there were 224.5 million registered MFS clients in the nation, according to Bangladesh Bank.
This indicates that 12.82% of all mobile money accounts worldwide were opened in Bangladesh, while 56.12% of all mobile money accounts in South Asia are located there. In just one year, the number of MFS users rose by 11% in South Asia and 18% in Bangladesh.
