SWIFT messaging traffic grows in West Africa

Data from SWIFT shows that traffic growth in West Africa has outperformed the total growth of SWIFT globally. In the year to date, total traffic volumes in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ)[1] grew by 13.7% versus 5.8% growth for SWIFT worldwide. This is on par with growth across the African continent of 13.6%. It illustrates the increasingly important role that West Africa plays in SWIFT’s global business. Growth was even more pronounced in Ghana, which saw SWIFT traffic volumes up by 41.2% and compound annual growth over the last five years of 27.5%. Nigeria saw lower growth this year, at 2.9%, as a result of recent economic downturn and the falling price of oil. However, over the same five year period, compound annual growth has been high, at 32.2%. This growth is underpinned by a significant increase in payments traffic, a reflection that the region continues to see good economic growth despite a more challenging global environment. Payment traffic volumes increased by 15.8% in WAMZ. This is higher than the rest of the continent, however, Africa remains the fastest growing region globally for payments traffic with a rise of 13%, ahead of the rest of EMEA at 5% and a fall in the Americas of 0.2%. The SWIFT Index, a methodology for anticipating GDP growth by combining global payments data with actual quarterly GDP growth figures, demonstrates that SWIFT data is closely correlated to economic activity. Rising SWIFT traffic volumes are therefore an indicator of economic growth. The data released today indicates long-term and sustainable economic growth across West Africa.