Baghdad – WAA – Nassar Al-Hajj
The Parliamentary Finance Committee confirmed, on Monday, the achievement of 7 major gains after the entry into force of electronic payment, and while it indicated that it was adopted to prevent the smuggling and laundering of money outside Iraq, it recommended its generalization in all financial transactions.
Committee member Mustafa Al-Karawi told the (INA): “There are many gains achieved from implementing the electronic payment experiment, including reducing the circulation of paper currency and thus reducing the costs incurred in printing banknotes and replacing damaged ones, as well as supporting balances in private and government bank accounts, and also investing in supporting the private and commercial sector and loans, in addition to controlling money more broadly and preventing its smuggling and laundering outside Iraq.”
He added, “This also led to controlling the cash mass and keeping it not in people’s homes but in banks, in order to invest it and circulate it in the economic process,” suggesting, “generalizing electronic payment in all financial transactions in Iraq.”
Al-Karawi suggested encouraging more citizens to use electronic payment by offering incentives and discounts to anyone who uses electronic payment so that there is a real shift and a desire from citizens to go for it and thus achieve the public interest.