Mozambican bank customers withdraw an average of more than 600 million meticais a day from ATMs, according to a report by the Bank of Mozambique.

The statistical report released today by the central bank, from January 1 to August 31 of this year, and quoted by Lusa, indicates that more than 147.143 million meticais were withdrawn from almost 1,500 automatic teller machines (ATMs).

The peak in terms of withdrawal numbers (7,573,096 operations) was in March, with ATMs handing out 22,167 million meticais to customers.

In August, this number fell to 4,605,553 withdrawals, for a total value of 14.487 million meticais.

In terms of access to a bank account, the central bank document consulted by Lusa indicates that more than 30 Mozambican adults out of every 100 have a bank account, an increase of 26% in the space of 10 years.

The document also says that last June the country's commercial banks had the equivalent of 30.1 bank accounts for every 100 adults, compared to 23.9 in 2013. The highest ratio was reached in June 2017, with 36.2 bank accounts per 100 adults.

As for the number of bank branches, according to the same data, it remained practically unchanged between 2013, when it was 4.0 per 100 adults, and the end of the first half of this year (3.9).

Bank cards issued in Mozambique increased over the same 10-year period, from 23.8 per 100 adults in 2013 to 18.4 last June.

Overall, there are 15 commercial banks and 12 microbanks operating in Mozambique, as well as a number of credit cooperatives and savings organizations.