Digital payments surge 34% to $8.5bln in Bahrain

Digital payments surge 34% to $8.5bln in Bahrain

Cashless payments are gaining wider traction in Bahrain, with the volume of point of sale (POS) transactions posting significant growth over the past several months, according to a new report.

The volume of POS transactions across the kingdom grew by 49.8% to 125.5 million in 2021, the new report released by the Bahrain Central Bank on Thursday, showed. The total value of such payments amounted to BD3.2 billion ($8.5 billion) during the same period, posting a yearly growth of 34.6%.

Out of the total POS transactions, 65.6% were contactless payments. In terms of value, contactless payments accounted for 39.8% of the POS transactions.

The central bank report includes a comprehensive study of the development of payment and settlement services in the kingdom’s banking sector in recent years.

In the report, the central bank noted that the payment landscape of Bahrain has been undergoing substantial transition over the years

“The growth of digital payments has been on a steady rise in recent years. It has been supported by the proliferation of new technologies along with changes in consumer behaviour,” the report said.

It said that the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a “key catalyst” for the accelerated adoption of digital payments. However, it pointed out that the