COFEB has published a study entitled “The impact of mobile money on the effectiveness of monetary policy: the case of WAEMU” under its Working Paper Series (WPS). The study was written by Gbêmèho Mathieu Trinnou, a researcher in the Research and Partnerships Directorate.

Mobile money is defined as a service that uses information and communication technologies via a mobile device, usually a cell phone, to deliver financial services to customers, including populations that lack access to banking system financial services. Financial services via mobile phones have experienced significant growth in the WAEMU Union. At the end of December 2021, the total number of transactions performed stood at 5 billion, worth a total of 63,895 billion CFA francs, compared with a total volume of 259,354,452 transactions in 2014, worth 3,760 billion CFA francs.

The methodological approach used in the study was founded on a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model linking mobile money, measured by the value of transactions via mobile phones in CFA francs, on the one hand, and monetary aggregates, economic growth rates, and inflation rates in each of the WAEMU countries, on the other hand.

Based on monthly data on mobile financial services in the Union’s countries, the analyses revealed that mobile financial services have a generally positive impact on monetary aggregates in the Union. A positive shock to financial services via mobile telephone can lead to increases in bank deposits, loans to the economy, and/or the money supply, according to the specific contexts of the WAEMU countries in question.

Based on these findings, the study recommended focusing particular attention on mobile phone transactions in analyses of monetary trends and monetary equilibrium in the Union with a view to better informing decision-making.

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