Transactions done through Point of Sale(PoS) channels across Nigeria between January and May 2020 has been valued at N1.64 trillion, data released by Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS)have shown.

This is N500 billion higher than the N1.14 trillion recorded for January – May 2019. It is also the highest transaction value recorded under the same months since 2017.

The report also recorded an increase in the total volume of PoS transactions. Within the period under review, the volume increased from 152.6 million to 228.86 million.

This increase can be associated with the lockdown on economic activities to curb spread of Covid-19.

During the period, financial institutions were closed while “essential” establishments were allowed to operate.

Considered as essential during the period were medical services, food processing, distribution and retail companies, petroleum distribution and retail entities, power generation, transmission and distribution companies; and private security companies.

Also, the total PoS registered during the period under review increased from 1.3 million (2019) to 2.3 million in 2020.

Deployed PoS terminals also increased from 1.1 million(2019) to 1.7(2020) under the same period.

Other transactions

The use of interbank instant payments on USSD platforms by bank customers received a significant boost, as transactions through NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) rose to N48.65 trillion, up from N41.48 trillion within the same period.

This means transactions through NIP rose by N7.17 trillion in five months.

The highest value of transactions recorded through NIP was recorded in March (N10.9 trillion) while the lowest was recorded in April (N7.01 trillion).

A further breakdown of the report shows that transactions done through mobile transfers (Mobile Inter-scheme Transactions) increased to N853.5 billion from N183.68 billion recorded within the same period in 2019.

According to the data, the biggest mobile transfer recorded was done in May (N230.23 billion), compared to N133.21 billion in January 2020.

PT