KAMPALA – The amount of money transacted through mobile money dropped in the last financial year compared to the 2017/2018 financial year, underlying the impact of the new taxes.
The Bank of Uganda annual report released last week indicates that mobile money transactions dropped from Shs73 trillion in 2017/2018 to Shs66.9 trillion in 2018/2019.
“The value of mobile money transactions decreased by 8.4 per cent from Shs73 trillion to Shs66.9 trillion during the same period,” the report reads in part.
The results are a culmination of a 0.5 percent tax which government last year imposed on withdraw transactions. Telecom companies also increased withdraw charges early this year.
However, the number of transactions increased.
“The number of mobile money transactions increased by 87 per cent from Shs1.3b to Shs2.5b during the year to June 2019,” the Central Bank report said.
The report indicates that Bank of Uganda is also currently seeking approval of the National Payments Systems Bill, which when approved and enacted into law, will govern mobile money and electronic transactions.
“The NPS Bill was approved by Cabinet on June 24, 2019 and is now awaiting presentation on the floor of Parliament for enactment into law. With regard to mobile money service providers, regulations are being drafted to operationalise the NPS Bill. The regulations being drafted include electronic money issuers’ regulations, licensing regulations for payment service providers and sandbox regulations,” the report indicates
