Electronic Payment Volumes Drop 1.1% in August

By Adedapo Adesanya

Electronic payment volumes in Nigeria witnessed a 1.1 per cent decline in the month of August to 397.9 million from 402.3 million in July.

According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), the value of e-payment transactions also suffered a colossal N190 billion loss, falling to N23.97 trillion from N24.16 trillion a month earlier.

The value of NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) also suffered a slight 1.2 per cent dip from N22.4 trillion in July to N22.13 trillion in August, while the volume of NIP transactions depreciated by 0.1 per cent month-on-month to 293.98 million from 294.3 million.

Also, Point of Sale (PoS) transactions in the country suffered a 7.4 per cent decline as the volume of PoS transactions carried out during the month was 75.6 million compared to 81.6 million transacted in the preceding month.

According to reports, this was coincidentally the lowest PoS volume in six months despite a 3.9 per cent rise in registered PoS terminals.

In addition, the value of PoS transactions for the month fell by 8.9 per cent or N49.8 billion to N504.9 billion from N554.7 billion recorded in July.

The reduction seen across these outlets can be attributed to prices of consumer goods which have continued to increase despite annual inflation in the country recording a consecutive month drop to its current 17.38 per cent.

The effect of inflation is that it essentially reduces the purchasing power of Nigerians as they struggle to cut spending to cope with the harsh economic realities, combined with the 33 per cent unemployment rate and rising food prices.

It was not all bad in the month of August as some improvements with Mobile Interscheme enjoying an increase in the value of transactions, rising by 8.1 per cent or N54.2 million to hit N719.4 billion from N665.2 billion in July. The volume of transactions also increased by 3.9 to 26.6 million from 25.6 million.

Cheque transactions also witnessed an increase, rising by 6.3 per cent to N265.4 billion from N248.6 billion, while the volume also improved by 6.2 per cent to 366,002 from 344,621.