Overall payments via the internet in Algeria saw a “considerable” increase at the end of the first quarter of 2021 of around 247.8% over one year, boosted in particular by hassle-free transactions within the context of the current pandemic.
This amount was of more than 2.2 billion dinars during the January-March period, versus 634 million dinars in the same period of the previous year according to the Economic Interest Group (GIE) Monetary.
This increase results from a rise in the total number of transactions performed by holders of interbank cards (CIB) and those of Algeria Post (Edahabia), which reached 1,782,213 transactions during the first quarter of the current year, whereas it stood at 404,449 operations over the same period of 2020, an evolution of over 340.65%.
The telecommunications sector generated the most transactions with a total of 1,619,622 operations during the months of January, February and March 2021, followed by the service sector (hotel reservations, training, etc.) which recorded 97,677 transactions, according to GIE Monetary.
Activities related to administrative services came third in the ranking of sectors that involved electronic payments, with no less than 28,921 transactions, while the payment of electricity and water bills came fourth, generating 25,570 online payments.
The GIE Monetary report also reveals an increase in electronic payments for online purchases of goods, with a total of 573 transactions during the first quarter of 2021, including 465 in March alone. This figure is significantly higher than the total number of transactions recorded in this field during the same period in 2020 (9 transactions), reports the GIE Monetary.
The Insurance sector was the only one to record a decline in the number of e-payments during this period with a total of 971 transactions compared to 3,229 transactions in the first quarter of 2020.
According to GIE Monetary figures, Internet transactions increased fivefold in 2020 to reach 4,593,960 transactions with a total amount of 5.423 billion dinars, compared with 873,679 transactions and 1.576 billion dinars in 2019.
