The Nigerian government will generate 483.73 billion Naira ($1.15 billion ) in three years through electronic money transfer levy (EMTL), The Punch newspaper reported, citing Budget Office disclosure in its 2023-2025 medium term expenditure framework and fiscal strategy paper.

The country plans to generate at least 137.03 billion Naira in 2023, N157.59 billion Naira in 2024, and 189.11 billion Naira from EMTL.

The government generated 111.84 billion Naira from the levy in 2021.

Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System revealed that the total value of electronic transactions in the four months of 2022 stood at 117.33 trillion Naira, surpassing 108.42 trillion Naira in 2019.

The EMTL was introduced in the Finance Act 2020 through the amendment of the Stamp Duty Act.

It is a one-off charge of 50 Naira on electronic receipt or transfer of money deposited in any deposit money bank or financial institution on any account on sums of 10,000 Naira and above.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), mobile money transactions' value rose to 9.72% of Nigeria's gross domestic product in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)