CBI reports electronic payments soar to 2 trillion dinars
Shafaq News/ On Saturday, theGovernor of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), Ali Al-Alaq, reported a recordincrease in electronic payment transactions, which surged from 800 billion to 2trillion dinars in a year, with government payments reaching 912 billion dinarsin July 2024.
Al-Alaq, speaking at a workshop onadvancing electronic payments organized by the “Osoul” Foundation for Economic andSustainable Development and covered by Shafaq News Agency, highlighted that “theCBI is aligning with the government program and the Prime Minister’s directivesto support electronic payments.
"We are proud of ourachievements and the significant increase in amounts processed through thenational exchange in 2023, which reflects improved infrastructure, expanded useof electronic payment channels, and the impact of the PM's campaign to boostelectronic payments, especially in the government sector."
The Governor noted that “in 2024,upward trends continued with processed amounts in national exchange systemsexceeding 2 trillion Iraqi dinars (1.527 billion USD) in July alone, up from800 billion dinars (610,687,016 USD) in July 2023, and reaching 1 trillion dinars (763,855,422 USD) in December 2024.”
“Additionally, government paymentssaw a significant increase, rising to 912 billion dinars last July from 287million dinars (219,083.97 USD) in July 2023.”
Al-Alaq further indicated that “paymentsat Baghdad gas stations surged to over 44 billion dinars in July 2024, up from183 million dinars (139,694.65 USD) in July 2023 and 4.5 billion dinars (3,435,114.46USD) in December 2023.”
Moreover, he reported “a significantincrease in POS points of sale, which have risen to over 50,000 this year fromabout 11,000 at the start of 2023, including thousands in governmentinstitutions, up from zero before the campaign began in June 2023.”
“Wehope government institutions will establish specialized units to oversee andadvance electronic payment technologies.”
