Middle East and Africa Mobile Payment Methods 2022

Middle East and Africa Mobile Payment Methods 2022

The use and adoption of mobile payments is seeing spreading gradually in Middle East & Africa, despite some barriers to resolve: new yStats.com report.

The growth pattern of digital payment methods such as mobile wallets is different across the region, with some countries progressing more than the others

Survey respondents in the Middle East and Africa believed that digital wallets are expected to be the payment method most preferred by the consumers by 2025, according to a source cited in the new yStats.com report. However, not all countries in the region are progressing at the same rate. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are the drivers of the growth, while countries such as Nigeria, Israel, and Jordan lag behind. In Nigeria, the share of mobile wallet users is forecasted to grow twofold between 2020 and 2025, but it will still be low as compared to other countries in the region. The mobile wallet transactions in terms of value and volume are projected to see a double-digit CAGR in the same period, with value reaching a certain billion Euros by 2025, as per the new yStats.com report. Furthermore, the number of mobile payment transactions in the country more than doubled between 2020 and 2021. In Israel, more than three-quarters of the payments came via cards in 2021, with a small percentage of payments coming via electronic wallets. Nevertheless, more than half of credit card payments were contactless and came via digital wallets in 2021, as mentioned in the new yStats.com report.

Despite the rise in mobile payment methods in Africa, certain barriers impede the growth path

The digital payments use in Middle East & Africa observed a growing trend even before the pandemic and continued its expansion post pandemic. The massive growth in the number of digital payment transactions and card payments in UAE and Saudi Arabia respectively can be attributed to the outbreak of the pandemic, according to a survey cited in the new yStats.com report. Moreover, more than three quarters of the surveyed payment professionals believed that the cashless payments in the region accelerated due to the pandemic. The digital point of sales retail transactions in Saudi Arabia doubled in 2021, as per the latest yStats.com report. Despite the increasing adoption of digital payments in Africa, lack of knowledge and relevance were the main barriers for mobile money account ownership. Even though the region faces some complex barriers in terms of the use of mobile payments, mobile money providers and other stakeholders are taking the relevant steps to reduce these barriers. For instance, in Senegal more than two-thirds of the surveyed adults used mobile money even though half of them had difficulties in reading and writing, as per a survey cited in the new yStats.com report.