The rise in the value and volume of the ‘point of sales’ use in Tanzania is attributed to the increase in number of machines to 34,502 in 2019 up from 8,441 in 2015. The central bank says the mode cuts the cost of providing financial services and increases safety and convenience
Dar es Salaam. A point of sales (POS) is increasingly becoming an important digital payment platform as the country moves towards cashless economy, official data shows.
Data from the Bank of Tanzania’s Financial Sector Supervision shows that POS registered the highest growth rate during the five years to 2019 compared to any other digital payment platform.
The amount channeled through the POS digital payment channel rose by 1,140 percent to Sh29.12 trillion in 2019 from Sh2.34 trillion recorded in 2015.
This was the highest growth rate compared to 427 percent for mobile banking, 48.69 percent for internet banking and 13.24 percent for Automated Teller Machine (ATM) respectively.
In terms of transaction volume, the number conducted via POS also rose by a cool 1,945.7 percent to reach 86,495,030 [transactions] in 2019 from 4,228,133 [transactions] in 2015.
The rise in the value and volume of the POS payments in the country can also be attributed to the increase in the number of machines that rose to 34,502 in 2019 from 8,441 of 2015.
The BoT says digital payments reduce the cost of providing financial services. They also increase safety and convenience of using saving and payment products.
“Integrating digital payments into the economy of the country may address the critical issues of domestic resources mobilisation. In addition, digitisation of payments also drives inclusive economic growth and individual financial empowerment,” the central bank says.
The BoT reports that apart from POS, more transactions were done through the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) where 72, 858,358 transactions were recorded in 2019.
In 2019, the total value of transactions from the four digital payments channels used in the country increased by 20.92 percent to Sh99.11 trillion from Sh81.96 trillion of 2015 while volume of transactions increased by 39.29 percent to about 220 million transactions from 158 million recorded in 2015.By 2019, Internet banking continued to hold the highest value of transactions with Sh50 trillion, followed by POS and ATM transactions which were valued at Sh29.12 trillion and Sh10.45 trillion respectively.Bankers says the rise in POS has been a result of concerted efforts by a number of players within the financial sector which […]