Algeria Sees More Online Payments In First Quarter, 2021

The total amount of payments via internet in Algeria recorded considerable improvement at the end of the first quarter of 2021, shooting up by 247.8% from previous year’s record. This was boosted, in part, by growing enthusiasm towards online payments brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. In total, online payments amounting to more than 2.2 billion dinars ($16.5m) were made in the period January-March, 2021 compared to 634 million dinars in the same period of the previous year, according to Groupe d’intérêt économique (GIE) Monétique. 

Mobile Payment
Mobile Payment

This is a significant number for a country of about 43 million people out of which only about 59.6% (25.6 million) are connected to the internet. 

Here Is What You Need To Know

  • According to the report, the increase is as a result of an increase in the total number of transactions carried out by interbank card holders (CIB) and those of Algeria Poste (Edahabia), which reached 1,782,213 transactions during the first quarter of the current year — it was 404,449 transactions over the same period in 2020, representing an increase of more than 340.65%.
  •  The telecoms sector generated the most transactions with a total of 1,619,622 transactions during the months of January, February and March 2021, followed by that of service providers (hotel reservations, training, etc.) which recorded 97,677 transactions, according to GIE Monétique.
  • The activities related to administrative services come in third position in the ranking of the sectors that generated electronic payments, with no less than 28,921 transactions, while the payment of electricity and water bills appears in the fourth position, having generated 25,570 payments online.
  • The balance sheet of the GIE Monétique also shows increase in electronic payments for the purchase of goods online, with a total of 573 transactions during the first quarter of 2021, including 465 for the month of March alone, a figure significantly higher than the sum of transactions recorded in this area during the same period in 2020 (9 transactions), reports the GIE Monétique.
  • The insurance sector is the only sector to have experienced a decline in the number of internet payments during this period with a total of 971 transactions compared to 3,229 transactions during the first quarter 2020.
  • According to GIE Monétique figures, internet transactions increased fivefold in 2020 to reach 4,593,960 transactions with a total amount of 5,423 billion dinars compared to 873,679 transactions and 1,576 billion dinars in 2019.

83 Active Web-merchants. 

  • According to the report, a total of 83 web-merchants are active in Algeria at the end of the 1st quarter 2021, 38 more than at the same period last year when their number was 45.
  • This number includes 4 operators in the telecoms sector, as much as the transport sector; 13 players in the insurance sector; 8 web-merchants active in the distribution of electricity and water; and 2 administrative service providers.
  • The striking feature in the figures is the number of web-merchants in the segment of service providers which stands at 23, behind that of sellers of goods which reached 29 at the end of the 1st quarter of the current year.
  • The GIE Monétique expects to see this number increase following the launch, on April 4, of the portal for the remote integration of web merchants into the electronic payment platform called “CIB Web”. 
  • 22 web-merchants requested the integration of e-payment into their websites through the new portal, during the first ten days since its launch. 

Algeria online payments Algeria online payments

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer