Ngozi Amuche
International Monetary Fund says Nigeria is lacking in the provision of digital financial services, as opposed to other African countries.
recent publication of the Financial Access Survey (FAS) indicates that progress was made in Nigeria with regards to access to financial services like lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and digital finance.
Financial Access Survey of 2020 indicated that Nigeria is lacking in the provision of digital financial services as opposed to other African countries and also developing countries around the world.
IMF’s policy tracker centres on small and medium-sized enterprises and mobile money transactions, despite the fact that many countries around the world have also circulated data on various policy responses to the pandemic in relation to digital financial services.
The IMF tracked and classified the policies that centre on improving the use of digital financial services during COVID-19 into four main categories such as: simplifying the transaction processes, increase in balance and transaction limits, making Know your customer requirement easy, and reducing transaction fees.
As reported by the IMF, the various steps that were adopted by the Central Bank of Nigeria in the advent of the lockdown to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, incorporated the development of advanced online financial transaction services, such as mobile money service providers.
The Nigerian public was also urged by the apex bank to reduce their use of cash as an alternative means of payment like mobile banking, USSD, mobile money, and internet banking to avoid getting infected by the disease.
With increased concern over the pandemic and its spread, many Nigerians continue to look for safe ways to recycle their money without getting any physical contact or risking exposure to COVID-19.
The report noted that most people, instead of mobile money, prefer investing their money in forex trading.
“This is one of the reasons why forex trading in Nigeria has been on the rise over the past year, and participation is expected to increase as many more people get educated about Forex trading” the report noted.
Information from the IMF tracker also indicated that the CBN had reduced the fees of using digital banking services, so that more customers can have access to it.