The value of the total number of daily transactions through mobile financial services (MFS) has crossed Tk 420 crore in May for the first time since the launch of the service in 2011. “After negative growth in April this good news. MFS is gaining popularity as people can send and receive money when they need it,” said Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Mahfuzur Rahman.Mobile financial transactions usually go up during festival, he added.
The value of the total number of daily transactions through mobile financial services (MFS) increased by 6.45 per cent to Tk 420 crore 5 lakh in May although it declined by 3.48 per cent in April to Tk 394 crore 58 lakh, according to the latest data of the Bangladesh Bank (BB).
In March, MFS transactions increased by 11.92 per cent to Tk 408 crore, according to the latest BB data, while the figure was Tk 365.28 crore in February.
The daily average transactions increased by 15.28 per cent to 2,963,611 in March against 2,566,300 in February. Keeping the upward trend in May, daily average transactions increased by 9.49 per cent to 3,180,405 from 2,904,744 in April.
During the prolonged political unrest in February and March, MFS witnessed a positive trend, though the number of agents and mobile wallets declined in March.
At that time, Mahfuzur Rahman, executive director of MFS of BB, had told The Independent that the growth rate had fallen because of the strong monitoring of mobile wallets during the political stalemate.
The number of mobile wallets started rising again in April, though the number declined in March. The number of agents increased by 1.1 per cent in April compared to that of March, according to BB data.
The active number of accounts also increased by 3.26 per cent.
BB launched mobile financial services in 2011 through a regulation. Any mobile phone user can make monetary transactions with the help of this service.
-With The Independent input
