When it comes to personal consumption expenditure (PCE), over 90 percent of the population in Africa prefer using physical cash over electronic payments.
These findings are a result of a research study conducted by MasterCard. Michael Miebach, MasterCard’s Middle East and Africa president said Africa has the potential for large-scale growth potential for electronic payments.
The research study concluded only 23 percent of the African adult population have active banking accounts.
Miebach believes that partnerships with regulators, government and industry players as well as open dialogue may assist in promoting electronic payment services. According to Miebach, an advantage of using electronic transactional processes is that they can be accessed globally.
Other issues pertaining to the use of electronic payments in Africa include banking infrastructure, which is largely insufficient throughout the continent.
