Baghdad – WAA – Amina Al-Salami
The Prime Minister’s Advisor for Financial Affairs, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, revealed today, Monday, three goals for the transition from cash payments to electronic payments, while indicating that it will achieve growth in banking liquidity.
Saleh told the (INA): “The shift from cash payments to electronic payments will undoubtedly achieve three basic goals in modernizing digital life in Iraq at the same time, the first of which is maximizing the level of cash flows to the banking system, which only accounts for 15% of the total currency issued for circulation, which leads to reducing the phenomenon of banking liquidity risks.” uncertainty And celebrate the idle liquidity hedge.
He added, “The second objective will result in the growth in banking liquidity, which leads to the growth of monetary credit and the achievement of a higher level of financial depth, and what is related to the rise in credit indicators to the GDP does not exceed 11% of the GDP, which is very low according to the international standard for one of the indicators of financial depth in providing long-term financing, managing risks, and offering diverse investment options.”
Saleh continued, “The third goal is to increase and regularize government cash revenues, or what is called cash flows to the public treasury, and in an accelerated manner, within the framework of developing the unified treasury account.” treasury single account Which is one of the most important goals of financial reform in Iraq. In light of the above, the country will witness a technical conference for electronic payments, in which all stakeholders concerned with electronic payment will meet to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the transition phase towards digital payments, chart future paths, evaluate the successes achieved, and come up with an integrated vision for moving to the next digital phase in payments in our country.
He pointed out that “the digital payment policies launched by the government a year ago are considered one of the most important issues brought by the government program within the scope of implementing the principles of e-governance, as its most important arms are updating the efficiency of payment systems in our country, in the transition from cash payments to digital payments, as the applications of this rapid transformation were supported by many positive factors, including the growth in the number of electronic payment companies throughout the country to nearly 17 payment companies, and that most of them are active in the economic work arena.”
Saleh added, “Among the positive factors that supported this transformation is the trend towards electronic banking by licensing a number of active digital banks in this regard, in addition to the development of the digital infrastructure related to electronic payment that the Central Bank of Iraq holds and is developing rapidly, including the application of standard regulatory and supervisory standards for digital payments, accompanied by the expansion of the scope of use of electronic payment devices, and finally the Council of Ministers’ approval of the instructions and legal controls that facilitate the regulation of the payments sector and digital transformation, in addition to the transformation of government institutions’ collection operations towards electronic collection.”
He continued, “Digital payments have increased in government gas stations and others, for example, to more than 60% of their current payment operations, and they are in increasing movement for the stations to complete all digital collection requirements by the end of this year. Government electronic collection has also been completed in all government activity joints and according to the same timeline in the transition to electronic collection. The expected results of spreading digital payments are represented by an increase in the number of bank accounts to nearly 16 million bank accounts, which covers about 50% of the number of adults in our country, and the goal is for every adult citizen to have a bank account.”
Saleh explained that “this boom in the number of adult bank accounts was reinforced by the use of electronic payment cards, which reached nearly 20 million citizens holding an electronic payment card, meaning that the percentage of adult electronic payment card holders is nearly 60% of the total number of adults, despite the dominance of prepaid cards linked to the accounts of the issuing bank companies, as it requires that electronic payment cards be linked directly to a personal bank account, which embodies the need for the rapid growth of digital financial inclusion goals.” digital financial inclusion…and looking forward to banking services that touch the poorest and most vulnerable groups in society by expanding the scope of using digital or electronic payment cards.