Mozambique’s wallets close Q3 2025 at 967.5m transactions, and each one is getting smaller

September 30, 2025

September dipped 6.6% on August, and the average ticket has slid from MT691 in Q1 to MT659 in Q3.

Mozambique’s electronic money institutions closed the third quarter of 2025 with 967.5 million operations worth MT638.0bn, but September itself slipped to 310.8 million operations and MT203.5bn, 6.6% below August in count. Taking out the extra day in August, daily volume still fell 3.5%. The quarter’s real message is in the ratio: count is growing faster than value, and the average ticket has fallen from MT691 in the first quarter to MT659.

Banco de Moçambique’s monthly statistical summaries, read month against month, show the quarter beating the first by 31% in operations and 25% in value. A payments market that adds volume faster than value is adding small transactions, and the businesses that price, staff and stock for the average ticket of a year ago need to adjust.

Three quarters, one direction

Q3 volume was 31% above Q1 and 12% above Q2, but value grew more slowly at each step.

The first quarter logged 736.9 million operations worth MT509.6bn, the second 866.9 million worth MT604.7bn and the third 967.5 million worth MT638.0bn. Quarter on quarter, count rose 11.6% into Q3 while value rose 5.5%. Between May and June the monthly count was flat at 297.3 million, and July then jumped to 324.0 million, so the plateau was short.

September’s split shows where the slowdown landed. Transfers were 154.3 million operations and MT102.1bn, deposits 83.8 million and MT59.5bn, withdrawals 48.5 million and MT38.6bn, and service payments 24.3 million and MT3.3bn. The last line fell 18% from August’s 29.6 million, giving back most of the earlier jump, according to the October summary.

The spread is visible in the central bank’s own quarterly count: Banco de Moçambique put mobile money accounts at 118.7 per 100 adults in the second quarter of 2025, up from 109.8 in the first, with mobile money agents up 8.8% in the quarter.

Why the ticket shrinks

New users bring new habits, and small balances mean small transactions.

The average ticket is simply value divided by count, and it moves when the mix of users moves. Wallet subscribers grew from 23.58 million in August to 24.03 million in September, an addition of 443,186 accounts, while agents rose by 10,673 to 415,630. Newcomers tend to start with small deposits and everyday purchases, which pulls the average down even when long-standing users keep sending the same sums. That reading is ours, and consistent with the arithmetic rather than proved by it.

The Banco de Moçambique’s September 2025 financial inclusion newsletter records a waiver of fees on transfers between M-Pesa accounts, meant to move people from cash to digital payments.

The card network stops shrinking

POS terminals edged up to 32,806 after two months of losses, but the fleet is still about 2,700 below its 2024 level.

Terminals fell by 1,520 in July and 609 in August, then rose by 58 in September to 32,806, while ATMs held at 1,360. The 2024 starting point was 35,470 POS terminals and 1,413 ATMs, according to the central bank data reported in March, so the fleet is still about 2,700 terminals short of it. Bank cards in circulation reached 3.52 million, up 69,423 on August.

The Relatório de Inclusão Financeira 2025 gives the mix in 2024: ATM and POS took 39% and 24% of electronic channel transactions, and mobile banking 27%. Bank accounts stood at about 6.38 million in September, against 24.03 million wallet subscribers, a ratio of 3.8 to one. Cards are a channel for salaried customers, and wallets are the channel for everyone else.

What to change before the fourth quarter

Price for MT655 and build for volume.

A fintech, marketplace or utility that quotes fees or minimum order values off last year’s wallet tickets is now mispriced. At the September average of MT655, a flat fee is a heavier tax than it was at MT691, and a minimum basket set at MT1,000 sits above the average wallet transaction. Move to percentage pricing or a low floor, and test both on a slice of September’s traffic.

Agents should plan float for more, smaller conversions, since the rise in operations outpaces value. Set the reorder point for float by count rather than by value. Then check the October figures for two signals: whether service payments recover above 26 million, and whether the daily rate returns to August’s 10.7 million operations.