Maputo, Aug. 21, 2025 (Lusa) - The use of cheques as a form of payment in Mozambique is falling, with 932,000 processed in 2024, in a market increasingly based on electronic interbank transfers, according to data from the central bank.

According to an annual report by the Bank of Mozambique, released this week, in 2023 949,000 cheques were processed, worth a total of 260.8 billion meticais (€3.483 billion), while last year the figure rose slightly to 282.3 billion meticais (€3.77 billion). The number of cheques processed fell by almost 2%.

"The modernisation of the payment system resulted in a reduction, albeit slight, in the use of cheques, against an increase in Interbank Electronic Transfers (IET)," reads the report.

IET operations, directly between banks, totalled almost 3.3 million last year, involving 509.3 billion meticais (€6.803 billion), while in 2023 they reached 2.9 million, worth 500.9 billion meticais (€6.690 billion).

"The number of IET operations increased by around 12%, against a reduction in the number of cheques transacted of around 2%, although the amounts transacted in both instruments saw a slight increase," the document adds.

Mozambique has 15 commercial banks and 12 microbanks, as well as credit cooperatives and savings and credit organisations, among others.

PVJ/ADB // ADB.

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