Mobile Money Usage: A Comparative Analysis of Burundi with other East African Countries

This study examines the use of mobile money services in Burundi and compares it with other East African countries to identify areas for improvement. The focus is on the supply side, with the aim of offering practical recommendations for policy makers to enhance the usage of mobile money. We use secondary data to compare mobile money usage and transaction fees across East African Community (EAC) countries. Additionally, the analysis draws on semi-structured interviews with key informants from the National Agency of Regulation and Control of Telecommunications, the Central Bank of Burundi, the Ministry of Finance, and other institutions crucial to the development of mobile money. The information collected during these interviews is organized into four thematic areas: institutional environment and regulation, interoperability, government's role, and the impact on smallholder farmers. The findings indicate that mobile money usage in Burundi is relatively low, standing at 11%, in comparison to other EAC countries. Although higher than South Sudan's usage rate of 1%, it falls far behind Tanzania (45%), Uganda (54%), and Kenya (69%). The cost of sending US$ 10 varies between 0.2% and 10.8% across EAC countries, with the lowest fees observed in Kenya and the highest in Tanzania. Interviews with experts highlighted the need for supply-side actors to recognize the country's low mobile money usage rate and fully realize the potential benefits of this technology. The study contributes to the limited literature on mobile money and digital finance in Burundi and offers some policy recommendations to address the issue.