Egypt: 4.1 mln state employees receive salary from Meeza cards now

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) replaced on Sunday 4.1 out of 4.3 million payroll slips for state-employees with Meeza cards, this in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance aiming to digitise salary disbursal.

Moreover, the government will pay out cash subsidies and pensions through Meeza cards.

The government has previously announced that it would swap all payroll slips for state employees with Meeza cards by the end of 2022.

Egypt is hiring now about six million public officials, regarding data of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

The replacement is a part of the National Council of Payments’ strategy under the supervision of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Meeza cards can provide 30 percent of employees’ salary value to disburse ahead within electronic points of sales (POS) or online shopping websites, the CBE said.

Furthermore, the CBE launched a number of initiatives that aim to upgrade the infrastructure of electronic payment systems and services; including an electronic payment initiative that increased the number of POS devices across the country to over 800.

In March, the CBE launched the National Instant Payment Network and its mobile application ‘InstaPay’ that allows clients to process electronic fund transfers immediately and easily.

Meeza prepaid card is the first national electronic payment card, considered as one of the main electronic payment tools used by citizens to make governmental payments or carry out any other local financial transactions.