RIYADH: The use of the electronic mode of payments continues to accelerate in Saudi Arabia, with the retail sector surpassing the 60 percent target set by the Financial Sector Development Program, as the Kingdom moves toward a cashless economy.
Last year, the share of e-payments in the Kingdom’s retail sector reached 62 percent of aggregate payments, including cash, revealed the latest data from the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA.
This accomplishment comes from Saudi Arabia’s ongoing support and enablement of the financial sector over the past couple of years, reported the Saudi Press Agency.
A key objective of the FSDP was to promote electronic payments and convert Saudi society to a cashless society by increasing the share of non-cash transactions from 16 percent in 2016 to 60 percent by 2022 and a further 70 percent by 2030.
“The FSDP aims to develop a diversified and effective financial sector to support the development of Saudi Arabia's economy, diversify its sources of income, and stimulate savings, finances and investments,” according to its website.
Through notable enhancement in payment infrastructure, improvement of current systems, and the introduction of new systems and services, the Kingdom speeds ahead to its Vision 2030 goals.
Saudi Arabia has also boosted electronic payments further by advancing the financial sector’s regulatory, technical, and operational outlooks.
The agency reported that e-commerce sales through Mada, the Saudi Payment Network, rose by 40 percent last year compared to 2021.
In 2022, the number of point-of-sale transactions through Mada reached an impressive 7.2 billion transactions.
As for online transactions through the Mada card, they reached 610 million transactions in 2022 witnessing a 76 percent growth.
Last year saw the Kingdom's POS transactions processed through 1.4 million POS devices, showing a growth of 42 percent year-on-year.
SAMA, as one of the FSDP stakeholders, considers reducing cash transactions one of its most important strategic objectives. To achieve this, it has been working hard over the past few years on several initiatives, projects and investments in the digital payments sector in line with the objectives of FSDP.
SAMA’s strategy to convert Saudi Arabia to a cashless society is working well, as evidenced by the achievements made in electronic payments.
