The impact of electronic levy on mobile money transactions: lessons from Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACT The rapid advancement of technology has transformed the way financial transactions are conducted and made assessing their impact a pressing international research problem. This article evaluates and quantifies the potential short-run impact of electronic transaction levy (e-levy) on mobile money transactions in Ghana based on forecasting the counterfactual mobile money market response. It uses monthly time series data from January 2019 to February 2023 in the analysis. The results show that the e-levy has a statistically significant reducing effect on mobile money transactions. In particular, the value of mobile money transactions, number of mobile money transactions, and value of mobile money transactions from mobile money interoperability decreased by about 47%, 24%, and 49% respectively. The results, however, show that overtime, the adverse effect of the e-levy on mobile money transactions diminishes. The findings from the study provide a comprehensive analysis of the effect of the e-levy on mobile money market in Ghana, and thus, contribute to the growing body of research on the role of taxation in the digital economy and financial inclusion.