Egypt issues 23M Meeza cards

CAIRO – 26 January 2021: About 23 million new "Meeza” cards have been issued, including Takaful and Karama cards, the Farmer’s card, people of determination cards, pension cards, and government salaries, according to governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer.

This came during a meeting held by Mostafa Madbouli, Prime Minister of Egypt, to review the efforts made by the Central Bank to enhance financial inclusion, electronic payment systems, as well as a number of important joint work files.

The Governor of CBE referred to the role that the payment systems and information technology sector plays in relation to projects to transform into a society less dependent on banknotes, which include infrastructure projects for financial markets and the legislative frameworks governing these projects.

He explained that among these projects are government payments and receipts, which include a project to replace and renew government salary cards, pension cards, and the farmer's card, as well as financial technology projects, which include the establishment of a financial technology center, the establishment of the Financial Technology and Innovation Support Fund, and the small and medium enterprises platform.

Amer discussed the most important indicators of electronic payment systems and services, on which reliance comes as part of the transition to a society that uses less banknotes, referring in this regard to the recent high rates of growth and activity achieved by electronic wallets and electronic payment cards.

He emphasized that the aim of establishing the national payment system "Meeza", which was launched in late 2018, is to achieve sovereignty and independence for national payment systems, as well as reduce the cost of payment services to citizens, in pursuit of financial inclusion, as well as to keep all payment data locally in order to achieve more of protection for that data.