BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.11
By Zeyni Jafarov – Trend:
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) was instructed, together with relevant government agencies, to study international experience in expanding digital payments and prepare relevant proposals on the prospects for their application in the country, a source in the CBA’s Department of Payment Systems and Settlements told Trend.
According to the source, the instructed activities are a part of the Strategic Roadmap for the Development of Telecommunications and Information Technologies in Azerbaijan.
In order to broadly diagnose fundamental factors, reduce the turnover of cash in the economy and develop non-cash payments within the instruction, the CBA started cooperating with the international company MasterCard Worldwide, said the source.
"The staff and experts of the Central Bank and MasterCard Worldwide have studied the National Strategy and the Current Payment Ecosystem on Digital Payments and identified the factors stimulating cash payments," added the source. “To carry out these works, the Central Bank held meetings with government agencies and commercial banks, organized polls in 560 organizations and among 700 consumers in the capital and nine large regions of Azerbaijan. Discussions were also held with the participation of six ministries, 25 financial institutions, 10 private sector participants, and the experience of more than 30 foreign countries was studied.”
As a result of the work done, the ‘Cashless Azerbaijan’ project was prepared, consisting of 16 priorities and about 60 measures to further improve the institutional environment for digital payments, revive the banking sector, create a digital ecosystem and strengthen public awareness and propaganda on the digital payments.
"As a result of the implementation of this project, we expect an increase in the annual volume of non-cash payments in the amount of 17 billion manat ($10 billion), which will allow an annual growth in the share of non-cash payments by 7 percent. Thus, the share of cash payments in an economic transaction will generally decrease from 74 to 40 percent," stressed the source.
The goal of the ‘Cashless Azerbaijan’ project is to significantly expand the cashless payment environment among citizens, business entities, and government agencies, minimize the volume of cash turnover and, as a result, strengthen the financial resource base of the Azerbaijani banking sector, summed up the source.
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