E-payments grew by 41.6% in value, to TND 538.8 million in the first half of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, according to the " Bulletin on payments in Tunisia " published by the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT).
The number of transactions rose by 35.2% to 7.5 millions.
Likewise, local payments (by Eftpos terminals) increased by 17.9% in number to 17.2 million transactions and by 37.5% in value to TND2,127.1 million.
At the end of the first half of the current year, the BCT counted 1,102 active merchant sites.
A merchant site is considered to be active if it has recorded at least one transaction over a year.
The same source reported an increase in electronic payment activity in the first half of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, rising by 12% in number (to 71.7 million transactions) and by 18.1% in value (to TND12,127 million).
While withdrawals will continue to be a preferred option for cardholders (66% of transactions and 78% of their total value), the structure of electronic payment transactions will show a 2% rise in the number of payments (to 34%) and a 3% rise in value (to 22%) during the first half of 2023.
At the end of June 2023, the number of e-payment acceptance points comprised around 3,140 ATMs (up 3.3%), 6,722,000 bankcards (up 2.1%) and 34,600 EFTPOS terminals (up 5.3%).
Mobile payments were also up 459% between the second half of 2022 and the first half of 2023, from TND3 million to TND17 million.
As for e-payment methods, 32.6 million transactions were carried out during the first half of 2023 (down 0.4 compared with H1-2022) for a total amount of TND110,626.7 million (up 7%).