Rabat – Online merchant sites have carried out 12.8 million online payments through Moroccan and foreign bank cards in the first half of 2022, according to a report by the Interbank Monetary Center (CMI).
The transactions amounted to a total of MAD 4.6 billion ($447 million), registering an increase of 21.3% in the amount compared to the same period in 2021. The number of transactions was a 36% increase, says CMI’s report, adding that Moroccan cards still dominate the online transactions with over 96% of the share.
Both Moroccan and foreign cards have been used over 66 million times during the first half of 2022, whether online or offline, with the transactions amounting to a total value of MAD 27.8 billion.
Of all card transactions in Morocco, 20.6% were retail purchases, followed by 10.5% being in hotels, 9% in gas stations, and 8.9% in clothing.
The increase confirms Moroccans’ move towards a more digital future. The COVID-19 pandemic particularly accelerated the adoption of digital payments, especially over the internet.
The pandemic allowed many countries to leapfrog the traditional adoption of bank accounts and card payments, with African countries in particular seeing an increased adoption of mobile and online payment services.
Despite this, recent figures show that Moroccans are still lagging behind the rest of the world in digital payments, with only 17% of them using such services. This is even though 62% of the country uses the internet.
The phenomenon, which extends to the rest of the MENA region, is chalked up to a lack of trust, as many still don’t trust sensitive payment data to be stored over the internet.
