Baghdad – conscious
The government media team confirmed today, Tuesday, that the electronic payment process is a pillar of economic reform, while indicating approval of the proposal to include students within specific conditions with the electronic payment card.
The spokesman for the government media team, Haider Majeed, told the (INA): “The electronic payment process using points of sale is an important file that receives the direct attention of the Prime Minister,” indicating that “this process is a basic pillar of the economic reform vocabulary adopted in The government program represents a qualitative development in Iraq.”
He pointed out that “the Council of Ministers issued many decisions related to this matter, obligating government institutions to implement them,” noting that “the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers is the coordination body between all official institutions, and has taken it upon itself to follow up on the implementation of the directives of the Prime Minister in this regard.”
He explained: “Directives were issued to official institutions and citizens, in addition to the government media team holding meetings with the relevant authorities to develop an integrated media plan to introduce this process, which is a new culture in Iraqi society.”
He added, “The Ministry of Interior, in a number of its directorates, has begun providing services to citizens and using electronic payment, in addition to the Minister of Higher Education issuing a directive to universities to activate the electronic payment card starting next June, which will be mandatory,” noting “the Prime Minister’s approval of the proposal to include students.” Schools from first to sixth preparatory school use an electronic payment card that is linked to the father’s account and the daily payment is determined.”
Majeed pointed out that “the advantages of electronic payment include providing money to citizens at the official exchange rate of 1,320 dinars, in addition to safety for the shop owner and ending the phenomenon of counterfeit and damaged banknotes, in addition to the ease of the financial transfer process and transferring money to the owners of exchange companies.”
He pointed out that, “Since the Council of Ministers approved the deployment of electronic payment points, the country has witnessed a growth in bank accounts by 14 percent, which reached more than 10.02 million bank accounts, after at the end of the year 2022 there were more than 8.79 million accounts, which means an increase of 1.2 million.” Million accounts.
He continued, “The number of bank cards increased by 14.2 percent, as banks and electronic payment companies issued 2.3 million cards, bringing the total number of cards to 18.5 million cards, in addition to the growth of point-of-sale devices known as POS by 117 percent, reaching 23,261 devices, while at the end of Last year, there were 10,718 devices, while ATMs achieved a growth of 30.5 percent and reached 2,901 devices after there were 2,223 devices at the end of last year,” stressing that “the government is continuing the process of financial digital transformation.”