Mobile payment transactions in Tanzania increased by 26.73% to 6.41 billion in 2024, up from 5.06 billion in 2023, according to the Bank of Tanzania’s (BOT) Third Annual Payment Systems Report.
The value of these transactions rose by 28.54% to TZS 198,859.29 billion compared to TZS 154,705.77 billion recorded in 2023.
Active mobile money subscriptions reached 63.21 million, reflecting a 17.46% increase from 51.72 million subscribers in 2023.
“The increase in mobile money activities during the year was attributed to economic growth, widespread agent expansion, innovative service diversification, and progressive regulation,” the BOT report states.
Mobile money agents increased by 18.97% to 1,475,281 in 2024, from 1,240,052 agents in 2023, helping facilitate liquidity management across the country.
The report highlights significant growth in various mobile payment use cases, with Personal-to-Personal (P2P) transfers rising by 31.49% in volume and 38.66% in value. Payments to Business (P2B) transactions increased by 28.52% in volume and 45.76% in value.
Mobile operators are expanding into virtual card services, with M-Pesa Limited, Tigo Pesa, and Airtel Money Tanzania Limited providing these services in 2024. Virtual card registrations grew by 60.37% to 820,832 cards, processing 4.51 million transactions worth TZS 220.15 billion in local currency and USD 187.33 million in foreign currency.
The number of merchants accepting digital payments grew substantially by 101.99% to 1,327,803, with Electronic Money Issuers accounting for 89.58% of these merchants.
Tanzania’s payment systems operated with 99.85% availability for key infrastructure, including TISS, TACH, and TIPS. The Tanzania Instant Payment System (TIPS) saw a 92.52% increase in transaction volume and a 143.02% increase in value, processing 452.5 million transactions worth TZS 29,820 billion.
Cross-border payments and remittances maintained a positive net position for Tanzania, with remittance inflows facilitated by banks increasing by 40.50% to 1.3 million transactions worth TZS 1,892.71 billion.
The report also noted a decline in paper-based instruments like cheques, with local cheque usage decreasing by 13.91%.
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