Central Africa: Why Cash Won't Die
92% of Central African retail is cash-based. Mobile money fees make digital payments more expensive than cash for small transactions.
Methodology
Sample size
n=1,400 retail transactions sampled
Geography
Central Africa — CD, CM, CG, GA
Period
Q4 2025
Fee elasticity model; thin merchant POS coverage.
Last refreshed 25 Jan 2026
Market Sizing
$14.8B
TAM (Pan-Africa)
$4.2B
SAM (Addressable)
35.0%
CAGR 2026–2031
4
Key Regions
Regional Breakdown
Source: BEAC Financial Stability Report 2026, World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide 2026
Signal
92% of retail transactions in DRC, Cameroon, and Congo-Brazzaville are still cash-based despite mobile money availability.
Insight
Transaction fees of 1.5–3% on mobile money make digital payments more expensive than cash for low-value transactions (< $5). Users rationally choose cash to avoid costs that exceed their perceived convenience benefit.
Business Implication
Digital payment adoption in Central Africa requires fee structures that make digital cheaper than cash for micro-transactions.
Recommended Actions
Subsidise or eliminate fees on transactions below $5 to compete with cash's zero marginal cost
Introduce merchant-subsidised models where sellers absorb transaction costs
Build interoperable QR-based payments that reduce per-transaction infrastructure costs
Partner with BEAC to pilot CBDC frameworks that enable zero-fee micro-payments
IdeaToola Advantage
IdeaToola analyses fee structures and cash-vs-digital breakeven points across Central African markets.