Bahrain Central Bank reveals cashless payments in the Kingdom hit $3.62bn in 2021

Bahrain Central Bank reveals cashless payments in the Kingdom hit $3.62bn in 2021

Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has revealed that more than 11.3 million digital transactions in Bahrain in August, valued at BD279.6 million ($743.7 million) following a record $3.62 billion in the first half of 2021. According to the report from CBB, POS and Ecommerce transactions in Bahrain were up by 65 percent in August, year-on-year, and more than 53 million digital payments in the first half of 2021.

The figures reflect the trend in the rest of the GCC, which is currently experiencing a region-wide surge in online and digital payments as countries accelerate their transition towards cashless societies in the wake of the pandemic.

Unsurprisingly, lockdowns caused a dramatic shift towards digital payment systems. Bahrain’s national electronic wallet, BenefitPay, announced a 785 percent increase in the number of remittances through its Fawri+ service (an online payment service introduced under the Electronic Funds Transfer System) in 2020 – exceeding $5 million. And research from the European Payments Council indicates that the MENA region will process around 139 billion individual non-cash transactions in 2022, which is 90 billion more than five years ago.