PoS Transactions Depreciated by N97bn in the Month of April

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said payments across the nation’s point of sale terminals declined by 26.2 percent in April when compared to March.

The federal government had imposed a lockdown on activities in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja on March 31, 2020 to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

The lockdown weighed on economic activities and plunged PoS transactions by N96.7 billion in the month of April.

In the report put together by the central bank, data covers cheques, ATM, PoS, E-bills and NIP transactions for the month of April and excluded channels such as Web, Mobile, and NEFT.

The data collected by the apex bank showed the total volume of transactions declined from 251.9 million in March to 186.6 million in the month of April. The lowest since February 2018 when the volume of e-payments drops to 159.9 million.

Similarly, transaction values dipped by N4.6 trillion or 37.7 percent from N12.3 trillion in March to N7.6 trillion in April.

A break down of the report shows the value of PoS transactions depreciated by N96.7 billion or 26.2 percent from N368.9 billion in March 2020 to N272 billion in April.