12 November 2021
Africa has mobile money potential, says BCG
The payments industry in Africa suffered a much-smaller-than-anticipated impact from the Covid-19 crisis and has returned to growth with renewed momentum, according to a new report, titled Global Payments 2021: All In for Growth, by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
This 19th annual analysis by BCG of the global payments industry reports that the sector responded quickly to challenges posed by the pandemic, from e-commerce adoption to accelerating cash-to-noncash conversion.
Global payments revenues declined by only 2.5% from 2019 to 2020, to US$1.5tn, and they could reach US$2.9tn by 2030.
BCG’s five-year outlook suggests that global payments revenues will expand by a healthy 7.3% from 2020 to 2025. All regions are likely to see strong growth over the next five years, with the Middle East and Africa expected to enjoy a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.9% from 2020 to 2025. This follows closely behind the global leader, Asia-Pacific, which is expected to have a CAGR of 8.8%.
“This growth forecast makes the Middle East and Africa one of the world’s strongest frontiers for payments," says Tijsbert Creemers, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, Johannesburg, and co-author of the report. "This is a huge region, however, with very different market characteristics from one sub-region to another – and despite challenges around less developed banking infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, we believe that Africa is poised to see significant payments growth.”
