{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T18:28:44Z","timestamp":1782930524854,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782864000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Uganda witnessed a rapid rise in mobile money usage and digital credit adoption, underscoring the sector\u2019s role in post crisis recovery and financial resilience. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the determinants of mobile money loan disbursements in Uganda a global pioneer in mobile financial innovation, using monthly data from July 2021 to December 2024 and applying the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration framework to capture both long-run relationships and short-run dynamics. Results show a long-run relationship linking average loan disbursements with outstanding loan values and lagged inflation. In the short term, past loan disbursements have a significant impact on current loan values. Behavioural proxies are informative, airtime purchases and timely mobile loan repayments are associated with higher disbursement volumes, consistent with lenders interpreting them as signals of reliability and liquidity. By contrast, higher transaction volumes and fees depress disbursements, underscoring the adverse impact of elevated user costs on credit access. These findings highlight actionable levers for expanding responsible digital credit and deepening inclusion.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0338535","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T17:41:31Z","timestamp":1782927691000},"page":"e0338535","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Determinants of mobile money loan disbursements: Evidence from Uganda\u2019s post pandemic digital credit boom"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8840-5269","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Lorna","family":"Katusiime","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Frank W.","family":"Agbola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0338535.ref001","author":"L Klapper","year":"2025","journal-title":"The Global Findex Database 2025: Connectivity and Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0338535.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"239","DOI":"10.1080\/1540496X.2019.1697672","article-title":"Financial Inclusion and Economic Growth: An International Evidence","volume":"57","author":"LTH Van","year":"2021","journal-title":"Emerging Markets Finance and Trade"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0338535.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0277730","article-title":"New insights into the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth: A global perspective","volume":"17","author":"MN Azimi","year":"2022","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"pone.0338535.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1596\/978-1-4648-1897-4","author":"A Demirg\u00fc\u00e7-Kunt","year":"2022","journal-title":"The Global Findex Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Age of COVID-19"},{"key":"pone.0338535.ref005","author":"A Demirguc-Kunt","year":"2018","journal-title":"The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution"},{"key":"pone.0338535.ref006","article-title":"Where in the world is mobile money prominent?","author":"M McCaffrey","year":"2022","journal-title":"UN capital development fund (UNCDF) Blog"},{"key":"pone.0338535.ref007","unstructured":"FinScope Uganda 2023 Survey. 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Ugandan mobile money customers are facing a sudden price hike. 2024."}],"container-title":["PLOS One"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0338535","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T17:41:55Z","timestamp":1782927715000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0338535"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Ricky Chee Jiun","family":"Chia","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]},"references-count":55,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0338535","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]}}}