The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has given the go ahead to mobile money operators for all of them to pay interest on the mobile money float on September 11, 2016.

The first quarter of 2016 interest payment is, therefore, on September 11, 2016 and second quarter payment is due on September 18, 2016.

Total interest accrued on the float as of June 2016 was GHC15.19 million.

The mobile money subscribers are entitled to at least GHC12.15 million, representing 80% of the total float bal­ances that will be distributed to mobile money subscribers in line with Para­graph 10 (5) of the E-Money Issuers Guidelines (2015).

Total mobile money float balance at the end of June 2016 stood at GHC679.2 million compared to GHC341.3 million in 2015, according to Bank of Ghana data.

During the same period, total num­ber of registered mobile money agents increased to 108,531, compared to about 38,400 in June 2015.

The penetration of mobile money in the country has seen an astronomical rise for the fourth year running, with last year’s value of transaction reach­ing GHC35.4 billion, an increment of more than 216% over the previous year.

In 2014, the three telecom operators (Airtel, Tigo and MTN) engaged in mo­bile money were able to do transactions worth about GHC11.2 billion across the country.

Last year’s transac­tional value was recorded on the back of more than 260 million transactions.

The value of mobile money transactions when put into perspec­tive is just GHC5.85 bil­lion shy of the total deposit liabilities of the 29 banks as at the end of last year, a figure that is likely to be surpassed by the mobile operators this year.

The surge in mobile money usage shows the vital role telecom com­panies are playing to ad­vance the central bank’s cashlite economy agenda and also ensure that the push for more financial inclusion is brought into the hands of millions of Ghanaians.