Speaking at the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, World Bank Chief Economist Prof. Kaushik Basu, highlighted the heavy invest the Tanzania’s Government has placed on the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry to position it among the world’s top countries on mobile banking industry.
According to World Bank statistics, 40% of adults and more than half of farmers are currently using mobile money in Tanzania which in this terms, ranks 2nd in Africa behind Kenya with an average of 58%.
Tanzania is also far above the averages of 12% reached by countries in the Sub Saharan region, 27.7% by developing countries and merely 2% globally.
In addition, Tanzania is currently ranking 12th among the world’s 21st most representative developing countries in terms of mobile banking achievements according to the last Brookings Financial and Digital Inclusion Project.
These underlying technologies have changed the course of people’s life and addressed them to support economic growth and human development as seen in Tanzania, which was the first country to deliver mobile savings, loans and interest bearing products through mobile money accounts to boost agriculture and banking, explained Prof. Basu.
Tanzania has become one of five countries in Africa where people owes a mobile money account rather than a traditional back account, reaching 95 million of monthly transactions according to the World Bank.
