MENA countries report a surge in online transactions in H1 2021

The Egyptian National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) announced a surge in Mobile wallets to 16.3 million in Egypt during the first half (H1) of 2021, compared to 14.1 million in H1 of 2020. Mobile companies’ shares of e-wallets were: Vodafone 65%, Orange 20%, Etisalat 11%, and WE 4%. The number of electronic transactions carried out using mobile wallets also increased by 175%, reaching 81 million transactions in H1 of 2021, compared to 29.5 million transactions in H1 of 2020.

Additionally, the Bahraini Information & eGovernment Authority (IGA) announced a 257% e-services transactions surge to $530 million where the number of financial transactions conducted through different electronic channels in H1-2021 exceeded 1.6 million, displaying a four-fold surge compared to 2020. This reflects an improvement in the adoption of online access, the trust in the quality of services provided by the government, as well as the deployment of advanced technologies which improved the quality of government performance.