Mobile Money has Limited Impact on Cash in Uganda

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) paper ¹ uses data from Uganda to understand whether digital payment innovations, particularly mobile money payments, will increase financial inclusion and if it will reduce people’s preference for cash.

Since mobile money began in 2009, Uganda’s adoption has grown so that by 2021 the value of transactions was 94% of GDP, behind only Ghana, Senegal, Guinea and Rwanda.

Impact on cash

Linkage between data for the rise of mobile payments and changes in cash usage are not clear. While mobile money accounts have risen from 0.07% of GDP in 2008 to 0.8% in 2022, cash has only declined slightly since 2009.

Survey methodology

This study uses data from the 2018 Uganda FinScope Survey, which was commissioned by Financial Sector Deepening Uganda (FSD Uganda).