All public sector salaries will be paid out through Meeza cards within a year, replacing the government-issued cards currently in use, head of the Finance Ministry’s e-payments unit Samar Adel said in a workshop, according to a cabinet statement. The cards will allow users to withdraw cash through ATMs, make purchases online, and pay government fees through its e-payments portal. The government also plans to expand mobile payments through electronic wallets and QR codes.

Background: The government began trialling the use of Meeza cards to pay out state wages in August this year, and has plans to roll out 5 mn cards by June 2021. Since the government began rolling out the cards in 2019, it has distributed some 18k point-of-sale machines to government entities and made it mandatory for government payments over EGP 500 to be paid electronically starting May 2020.