In the first half of 2023, electronic transfer levies brought in N80.86 billion for the three tiers of government.
According to The Punch, this was based on information taken from a statement from the Federation Account Allocation Committee for the period of January to June 2023. It also happened after the country had recently seen a rise in electronic transfers.
In order to capitalize on the expansion of electronic funds transfers in Nigeria, the Finance Act 2020, which revised the Stamp Duty Act, included an electronic money transfer charge as a source of government revenue.
The EMT levy is a one-time, N50 fee that is applied to any amount over N10,000 that is electronically received or transferred from any bank or financial institution that accepts deposits.
The three tiers of government had relied on it as a reliable source of funding ever since it was first implemented. Electronic money transfer levies generated N13.8 billion for the government in January, N11.65 billion in February, N14.49 billion in March, N15.12 billion in April 2023, N14.37 billion in May, and N11.44 billion in June.
The government was also making progress towards exceeding its projected N137.03bn for 2023. The Budget Office of the Federation projected that EMTL will bring in N137.03 billion in 2023, N157.59 billion in 2024, and N189.11 billion in 2025 in its 2023–2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
It stated that in 2023, the Main Pool, VAT Pool, and Electronic Money Transfer Levy were expected to bring in N4.89 trillion, N2.74 trillion, and N136.35 billion, respectively.
The office also stated that in 2021, the government earned N111.84 billion from EMTL. Since the pandemic started in 2020, the adoption of e-payment transactions has increased significantly.
Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System webpage show that N108.42 trillion was the total value of electronic transactions in 2019. This increased to N162.89 trillion in 2020 and to N278.38 trillion in 2021. Cashless transactions increased to N395.47 trillion by 2022.
The COVID-19 epidemic, according to current data from the International Monetary Fund, will drive mobile money transactions in Nigeria to account for 9.72% of the country’s GDP in 2020.
According to the National President of the Association of Mobile Money Agents in Nigeria, Victor Olojo, the EMTL would likely keep rising for the foreseeable future.
