The amount of point of sale (POS) transactions has significantly increased over the previous few months, suggesting that cashless payments are becoming more popular in Bahrain. In 2021, there were 125.5 million POS transactions throughout the kingdom, up 49.8% from the previous year, according to a new data released by the Bahrain Central Bank on Thursday. During the same time frame, the total amount of these payments reached BD3.2 billion ($8.5 billion), representing a year-over-year increase of 34.6%.
Out of the total POS transactions, 65.6% were contactless payments. In terms of value, contactless payments accounted for 39.8% of the POS transactions.
The central bank report includes a comprehensive study of the development of payment and settlement services in the kingdom’s banking sector in recent years.
In the report, the central bank noted that the payment landscape of Bahrain has been undergoing substantial transition over the years
“The growth of digital payments has been on a steady rise in recent years. It has been supported by the proliferation of new technologies along with changes in consumer behaviour,” the report said.
It said that the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a “key catalyst” for the accelerated adoption of digital payments. However, it pointed out that the “idea of non-tangible financial transactions” goes a long way back.
The consumers, too, have become more comfortable with digital payments, including contactless shopping, as well as remote delivery of products and services.
“For such a demographic, the digital payment landscape provided a fertile ground for growth – not only regionally and globally but also here in Bahrain,” the report said.
Non-cash transactions volumes in the Middle East and Africa region grew by 7.8% in 2020 compared to 2019. The growth is higher than in Latin America (up 3%), North America (2%0 and Europe (3.3%). In the Asia-Pacific region, non-cash transactions volume went up 16.6% during the same period.
