BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 15
By Zeyni Jafarov - Trend:
One of the priority areas of activity of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) in 2020 was to ensure stable and reliable operation of payment systems, Trend reports on Mar.15 referring to a source in the CBA.
According to the source, in the reporting year, the total value of payments made through the real-time interbank settlement system for large and urgent payments (AZIPS) and the clearing system for small payments amounted to 223.4 billion manat or $131.4 billion (3.1 percent of GDP), and the number of transactions exceeded 59.8 million.
The source also said that the expansion of the capabilities of the government payment portal (GPP), created for the centralized collection of payments to the budget and the massive provision of services, continued over the past year. To date, 11 central executive authorities, four communal service enterprises, five fixed and mobile communication operators, 114 court authorities, 19 insurance companies, 1,438 municipal bodies, and other social structures have been integrated into this infrastructure.
Collection of payments for more than 800 services is provided for institutions integrated into the GPP. Such payments can be made in cash and non-cash in more than 2,500 branches and offices of 26 local banks and Azerpocht LLC and in about 1,300 payment terminals.
The total value of transactions carried out last year through BCPs amounted to 3.3 billion manat ($1.9 billion), of which 54 percent fell on non-cash payments. The volume of the carried out non-cash transactions grew by 22 percent compared to 2019, added the source.
(1 USD = 1.7 AZN on Mar. 15)
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