The Federal Government has generated N78.95 billion from the N50 levy on electronic bank transfers in the first five months of 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The revenue was shared among the three tiers of government, with the Federal Government receiving N15.9 billion, state governments getting N31.84 billion, and local governments receiving N35.2 billion.
The Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) was introduced in the Finance Act 2020 to tap into the growth of electronic funds transfers in the country. The levy is imposed as a singular and one-off charge of N50 on electronic receipt or transfer of money deposited in any deposit money bank or financial institution on sums of N10,000 and above.
According to the Federal Allocation Accounts Committee report, the government got N15.9bn in January, N15.15bn in February, N14.75bn in March, N18bn in April, and N15.14bn in May. A breakdown of the federal allocation also showed that N8.93bn in January, N7.96bn in February, N7.58bn in March, and N7.38bn in April were shared among the states from the bank transfer levy.
The Head of Corporate Communications, NIBSS, Lilian Phido, attributed the growth in revenue to the stability of payment platforms, saying, “It is very clear that more and more people are accepting the channels of payment that are available and the platforms are stable. With stability, these components have grown. With stability, more and more people moving.”
The government had projected to make at least N137.03bn in 2023, N157.59bn in 2024, and N189.11bn from EMTL, according to the 2023–2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.