The latest report from the Ghana Interbank Payment & Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) showed that the country recorded GH¢254 billion digital transactions in 2020.

This represents a 16 percent increase compared to the value of GH¢219 billion in 2019.

As of the end of 2020, a total of 77 million transactions were processed across all platforms, compared to the 38 million transactions in 2019.

According to GhIPSS, the number of transactions in 2020 went up by 103 percent.

Speaking during a media briefing, Chief Executive Officer of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse attributed the increase to COVID-19.

“The upsurge in the use of these real-time services was largely influenced by COVID-19 related factors such as: the 3 weeks lockdown which restricted the physical movements of people, public awareness through extensive education discouraging the handling of physical cash and encouraging the use of electronic alternatives and the incentivization from the financial services industry with fee waivers on their services,” he said.

The transactions captured in the GhIPSS product performance report which included electronic clearing of cheques, Automated Clearing House (ACH), e-zwich, and gh-link witnessed varying levels of increase in transaction volumes.

Mobile Money Interoperability was highlighted as a major contributor to the digital drive.

A total of 43.9 million transactions were recorded, representing a 367% increase from 9 million transactions processed in 2019.

It also stated that the GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP) platform also recorded significant growth in both transfers from bank accounts to mobile wallets and transfers between bank accounts across banks.

“At the end of 2020, GIP transactions increased by 257% from 1.9 million in 2019 to 6.8 million. GhIPSS also recorded introductory transactions from new services such as Proxy Pay and GhQR code,” it noted.