The volume of POS transaction in the country dropped by about 3.2 million in the month of August, according to industry stats released by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).
The report showed that the volume of transaction fell from 53.9 million in July to 50.6 million in August. The drop in volume could be due to the return to cash-based transactions by an increasing majority of the citizens.
A 7.2% Drop in value of Transaction
Similar to the volume of PoS transactions, the total value of PoS transactions also dropped in August. The value of PoS transactions dropped from N416. 7 billion in July to N386.3 billion last month.
The N30.3 billion drop in Value of POS transaction shows that the country has fully returned to its cash-based economy after the COVID-19 imposed lockdown restricted cash transaction.
Before now, the effects of the pandemic caused a steady growth in POS adoption as social and government policies and laws promoted mobile and POS transaction. This drove the volume to a significant height of 53.9 million.
However, it seems the significant number of business owners are driven towards adopting POS payment options, an aftermath realisation of the need post-COVID19.
While the number of transaction fell in August, the total number of PoS deployed and registered in the country increased within the same period. The number of POS deployed increased by 11,792 to stand at 372,330 at the end of August.
In 2020 alone, over 69 thousand PoS machines have been deployed in Nigeria
Mobile transactions dropped in August
Similarly, the growth of Mobile Inter-scheme Transactions which has been growing steadily since April dropped in August. The volume dropped to 11.99 million from the 12.2 million recorded in July.
Also, the value of Mobile transaction reduced within the same period. The report shows that the value decreased from N275.1 billion in July to N253 billion last month.
The cause of the drop could be similar, a return of Pre-lockdown spending habits.
Increase in volume of NIBSS instant payment
On the other hand, the NIBSS data showed that the total volume of instant payments increased by about 4.5 million from 184.9 million recorded in July to 189.4 million in August.
According to the report, the value of instant payment deals increased to about 14.6 trillion from 14.3 trillion recorded in July. This amounts to a 0.02% increase.
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