Saudi Arabia Records Jump in Electronic Payments

Business

May 26th, 12:02pm

Jeddah - Asharq Al-Awsat

Image used for illustrative purpose. (Gettyimages)

Electronic payments continued to grow exponentially in Saudi Arabia, driven by the conditions imposed by the outbreak of Covid-19. Latest statistics revealed the record increase of Saudi payments through smart devices by 1500 percent, compared to the same period last year. In conjunction with the procedures adopted to face the new coronavirus pandemic, indicators of Saudi payments through electronic points of sale increased remarkably, at a time when precautionary measures in the Kingdom continued, by imposing partial and total curfews and calling for avoiding cash payment to limit the spread of the virus. Payments via the Mada system increased by 1523 percent in the first quarter of 2020. During that period, 83.6 million electronic transactions were executed, compared to 5.1 million transactions in the first quarter of 2019. The value of sales during those operations amounted to 7.1 billion riyals ($ 1.8 billion). Mada is the Saudi payment network and the developed version of electronic payment services in the Kingdom. Its launch came to enhance the automated exchange systems, points of sale and electronic payment services on the Internet with an upgraded flexibility, speed and safety. In the same context, Mada’s online payments in the first quarter of this year recorded 20.8 million transactions, representing a 406 percent increase over the same period last year, while the value of purchases reached 5.1 billion riyals ($ 1.3 billion), an increase of 405 percent of the value recorded last year.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2302931/saudi-arabia-records-jump-electronic-payments