A reference to the decision of the Council of Ministers to publish the use of point of sale (POS) devices on a large basis in financial transactions and the transition from the cash community to the cash community in line with the government program to develop banking work and the confirmation of the Prime Minister during his meeting with delegations from Visa International Company to proceed with financial inclusion plans and digitize banking transactions to meet international standards and specifications at the international level.
At the time when we support the decision of the Council of Ministers in this regard and emphasize the need to strictly adhere to the parties included in the implementation of the decision in accordance with the procedures and mechanisms specified in the paragraphs of the decision, on this occasion, we must clarify the efforts made and made by the Central Bank since its launch of the technical revolution for digital transformation in the banking sector since 2016 in implementation of the objectives of its first, second and until the present strategy in achieving reform and development of banking and with high determination and confidence in the ability of Iraqi financial and technical cadres working in the Central Bank to overcome the challenges of the technical gap in information systems suffered by Iraq due to the repercussions of the blockade, wars, terrorism and instability during the period of the information revolution. The Central Bank has been able to overcome the challenges of digital transformation and development in banking technologies, establish infrastructure in banks and lead an advanced system of payments at the level of the state’s financial system.
It is certainly an important national effort for the employees of the Central Bank and banks, and this comes because of the procedures and developments carried out by the Central Bank and standing in the right direction in the darkest economic conditions suffered by our country and drawing a sound road map to catch up with technical developments in the countries of the world.
The Central Bank and the banking sector believe that the decision of the Council of Ministers is moving in a direction and steps consistent with the strategy of the Central Bank in digitizing and developing daily financial and banking transactions with the latest developments, developments and standards in the developed countries of the world in this field, but we believe that determining the implementation date on 1/6/2023 needs technical discussions with specialists in the Central Bank and electronic payment companies in the private sector in order to determine the foundations, standards and technical infrastructure and provide the necessary number of POS devices, of which the current availability is about (8500) devices and the number of electronic cards activated exceeds (15) million cards and the number of automated exchanges up to more than 1566 ATMs. It also requires educational efforts. And great media and publicity for a time that exceeds the current specified times and in partnership with banks and electronic payment companies because the banking culture of citizens using this modern technical means to move from cash payment to paying in this method is very weak, in addition to the weakness of knowledge and ways of motivation for mall owners or commercial and service shops, entities and areas that can use this type of daily financial and banking transactions.
There is no legislation that obliges citizens as well as service providers to apply digital transformation and motivates them to use electronic payment methods to pay bills. Note that the distinguished decision of the Council of Ministers allowed the citizen to use electronic payment along with cash in addition to the lack of integration of infrastructure. Through networking between the ministries and the parties referred to in the decision. .. And the need to develop communication services and facilitate the use of Internet services.
Therefore, it requires government support for the process of expanding the use of electronic cards and points of sale in cooperation with the Central Bank of Iraq. The work has been completed and the facilitation of all routine procedures also requires the provision of incentive incentives for service providers and the provision of banking facilities. We propose to develop a plan for the implementation of the decision incremental and with time limits agreed upon by all concerned authorities in the government, the central bank and electronic payment companies operating for the purpose of completing the implementation requirements in full.
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