While the overall electronic payment activity declined over the first 9 months of the year in Morocco, due to covid-19, online payment via bank card increased in number and in value over the period.
Electronic payment activity in Morocco, which refers to all activities related to digital payment, reached 271.1 million transactions for a total amount of 233.7 billion dirhams ($ 25.4 billion) between January and September 2020, according to data from the Center monétique interbancaire (CMI). Activity is down 11.4% in number of operations and down 8.9% in amount, compared to the same period in 2019.
However, during the first quarter of 2020, payment activity was up 7.8% in Morocco. The CMI, the body responsible for managing the Kingdom’s electronic monetary exchanges, justifies this situation by the health crisis triggered in mid-March 2020.
It particularly affected the activity of foreign bank cards which fell by 56.4% in value at the end of September 2020. Moroccan cards were less affected by the crisis, and Internet payment even improved by 24%. over the period.
Thus, online payment transactions via Moroccan and foreign bank cards increased by 41.5% in number and 24.0% in value compared to the same period in 2019. 10 million transactions amounting to 4.3 billion dirhams were recorded over the period.
The strongest increase (in number of transactions) was in online payments via foreign cards. This increase in Internet payments is explained by a change in habit motivated by the promotion of contactless payment due to restrictions linked to covid-19.
