{
  "title": "You’ve Got Money: Mobile Payments Help People During the Pandemic",
  "publication": "IMF Blog, June 22, 2020",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2020/06/22/blog-you-ve-got-money-mobile-payments-help-people-during-the-pandemic",
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  "summary": "The practical challenge of quickly getting financial support to people who lost jobs amid the COVID-19 economic crisis has affected advanced and developing economies alike due to lockdowns, physical distancing, patchy social protection systems, and high informality in low-income countries.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Quick summary and context",
      "content": "- The practical challenge of quickly getting financial support to people who lost jobs amid the COVID-19 economic crisis has affected advanced and developing economies alike due to lockdowns, physical distancing, patchy social protection systems, and high informality in low-income countries.\n- Many governments are leveraging mobile technology to deliver emergency financial support rapidly and at scale."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Case examples and operational outcomes",
      "content": "- Togo (population of 8 million) distributed emergency financial support to half a million people in less than two weeks using mobile phones; the technology helped deliver benefits to women and supported a transparent rollout.\n- Informal workers in Morocco are receiving government help through their phones quickly and efficiently."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Social assistance and cash transfer trends",
      "content": "- In sub-Saharan Africa, over 80 percent of measures announced since the beginning of the pandemic are in the form of transfers, and only 4 percent were labor market policies.\n- Globally, 30 percent of all the initiatives taken by countries are cash transfers.\n- Governments commonly scale up direct support to households and individuals because they cannot directly protect jobs; missing employment data and blurred lines in the informal sector hinder labor market policy effectiveness.\n- When socioeconomic information is lacking, governments face a trade-off between spending more to cast a wider safety net or keeping the budget in check and excluding households in need."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Effectiveness and comparative advantages of mobile money",
      "content": "- Mobile money is described as an effective and physical-distancing-friendly option to deliver cash transfers at large scale because ownership and use of mobile phones in emerging and developing economies is very high.\n- Agent network statistics: there are 228 mobile money agents per 100,000 adults compared to only 11 banks and 33 ATMs per 100,000 adults.\n- Mobile money facilitates access for rural and remote populations without requiring long travel or bank accounts; this is important where 1.7 billion still don't have access to formal financial institutions."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Country-level responses to strengthen mobile-money ecosystems",
      "content": "- Ecuador doubled the number of licensed cash agents in two weeks.\n- Malaysia expanded free mobile internet access.\n- Nigeria partnered with mobile network operators to identify vulnerable informal workers in urban areas through airtime purchase patterns.\n- Saudi Arabia reduced mobile usage fees to encourage mobile payments.\n- Peru previously fostered a platform that allows transfers across three leading mobile operators and 32 banks."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Risks, limitations, and regulatory considerations",
      "content": "- Limitations: rural/remote areas may lack mobile coverage, easy access to money agents, or electricity; exchanging mobile money for cash can be expensive; digital and financial illiteracy hinder adoption.\n- Risks: mobile money issued by telecom or fintech firms may not offer customers protections equivalent to banks’ clients; accelerating mobile money raises cyber-risks and digital fraud concerns.\n- Policymakers have been forced to react quickly to reduce regulatory weaknesses around mobile money; it is important to ensure risks do not outweigh benefits."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy guidance and recommendations",
      "content": "- Adopt a holistic approach that goes beyond technology to consider the whole ecosystem needed for a robust and resilient mobile-money program.\n- Integrate all “building blocks” of a sustainable mobile-money platform, including stakeholders and design and policy elements to maximize benefits against risks.\n- Use the transition from crisis mode to the “new normal” to:\n  - Take note of impediments encountered when expanding support during lockdowns.\n  - Build on solutions that worked best to compensate income losses.\n  - Focus on sustainable solutions rather than emergency workarounds.\n  - Incorporate mobile payments into broader government strategies to strengthen social protection systems in the medium term through technology.\n\nSource: You’ve Got Money: Mobile Payments Help People During the Pandemic — Sonja Davidovic, Delphine Prady, Herve Tourpe, June 22, 2020\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- GSMA-State-of-the-Industry-Report-on-Mobile-Money-2019-Full-Report\n  - GSMA-State-of-the-Industry-Report-on-Mobile-Money-2019-Full-Report (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - GSMA-State-of-the-Industry-Report-on-Mobile-Money-2019-Full-Report (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- En Special Series on Covid 19 Digital Solutions for Direct Cash Transfers in Emergencies\n  - En Special Series on Covid 19 Digital Solutions for Direct Cash Transfers in Emergencies (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - En Special Series on Covid 19 Digital Solutions for Direct Cash Transfers in Emergencies (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- En Special Series on Covid 19 Reaching Households in Emerging and Developing Economies\n  - En Special Series on Covid 19 Reaching Households in Emerging and Developing Economies (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - En Special Series on Covid 19 Reaching Households in Emerging and Developing Economies (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\n References\n\n- عربي\n- 中文,\n- Français,\n- 日本語\n- ,\n- Português\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2020/06/22/blog-you-ve-got-money-mobile-payments-help-people-during-the-pandemic"
    }
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    "Authors: Sonja Davidovic, Delphine Prady, Herve Tourpe",
    "Published: June 22, 2020",
    "The practical challenge of quickly getting financial support to people who lost jobs amid the COVID-19 economic crisis has affected advanced and developing economies alike due to lockdowns, physical distancing, patchy social protection systems, and high informality in low-income countries.",
    "Many governments are leveraging mobile technology to deliver emergency financial support rapidly and at scale.",
    "Togo (population of 8 million) distributed emergency financial support to half a million people in less than two weeks using mobile phones; the technology helped deliver benefits to women and supported a transparent rollout.",
    "Informal workers in Morocco are receiving government help through their phones quickly and efficiently.",
    "In sub-Saharan Africa, over 80 percent of measures announced since the beginning of the pandemic are in the form of transfers, and only 4 percent were labor market policies.",
    "Globally, 30 percent of all the initiatives taken by countries are cash transfers.",
    "Governments commonly scale up direct support to households and individuals because they cannot directly protect jobs; missing employment data and blurred lines in the informal sector hinder labor market policy effectiveness.",
    "When socioeconomic information is lacking, governments face a trade-off between spending more to cast a wider safety net or keeping the budget in check and excluding households in need.",
    "Mobile money is described as an effective and physical-distancing-friendly option to deliver cash transfers at large scale because ownership and use of mobile phones in emerging and developing economies is very high.",
    "Agent network statistics: there are 228 mobile money agents per 100,000 adults compared to only 11 banks and 33 ATMs per 100,000 adults.",
    "Mobile money facilitates access for rural and remote populations without requiring long travel or bank accounts; this is important where 1.7 billion still don't have access to formal financial institutions.",
    "Ecuador doubled the number of licensed cash agents in two weeks.",
    "Malaysia expanded free mobile internet access.",
    "Nigeria partnered with mobile network operators to identify vulnerable informal workers in urban areas through airtime purchase patterns.",
    "Saudi Arabia reduced mobile usage fees to encourage mobile payments.",
    "Peru previously fostered a platform that allows transfers across three leading mobile operators and 32 banks.",
    "Limitations: rural/remote areas may lack mobile coverage, easy access to money agents, or electricity; exchanging mobile money for cash can be expensive; digital and financial illiteracy hinder adoption.",
    "Risks: mobile money issued by telecom or fintech firms may not offer customers protections equivalent to banks’ clients; accelerating mobile money raises cyber-risks and digital fraud concerns.",
    "Policymakers have been forced to react quickly to reduce regulatory weaknesses around mobile money; it is important to ensure risks do not outweigh benefits.",
    "Adopt a holistic approach that goes beyond technology to consider the whole ecosystem needed for a robust and resilient mobile-money program.",
    "Integrate all “building blocks” of a sustainable mobile-money platform, including stakeholders and design and policy elements to maximize benefits against risks.",
    "Use the transition from crisis mode to the “new normal” to:",
    "**GSMA-State-of-the-Industry-Report-on-Mobile-Money-2019-Full-Report**",
    "**En Special Series on Covid 19 Digital Solutions for Direct Cash Transfers in Emergencies**",
    "**En Special Series on Covid 19 Reaching Households in Emerging and Developing Economies**",
    "[عربي](https://www.imf.org/ar/News/Articles/2020/06/22/blog-you-ve-got-money-mobile-payments-help-people-during-the-pandemic)",
    "[中文,](https://www.imf.org/zh/News/Articles/2020/06/22/blog-you-ve-got-money-mobile-payments-help-people-during-the-pandemic)",
    "[Français,](https://www.imf.org/fr/News/Articles/2020/06/22/blog-you-ve-got-money-mobile-payments-help-people-during-the-pandemic)",
    "[日本語](https://www.imf.org/ja/News/Articles/2020/06/22/blog-you-ve-got-money-mobile-payments-help-people-during-the-pandemic)",
    "[,](https://www.imf.org/pt/News/Articles/2020/05/05/blog-fiscal-policies-for-the-recovery-from-covid-19)",
    "[Português](https://www.imf.org/pt/News/Articles/2020/06/22/blog-you-ve-got-money-mobile-payments-help-people-during-the-pandemic)"
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