Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Ahmed Al Basheer, Staff Reporter

The UAE has ranked first in the Middle East and the eighth in the world among the economies that deal in cashless transactions. 

The already fast-growing digital payments sector in the UAE has witnessed significant stimulation with the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent report issued by the British website “money.co.uk.”

The UAE scored 72.1 points on the general index of classification, outperforming Switzerland, Finland, the United Kingdom, China, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.

The UAE is likely to become the first cashless economy in the Middle East, as 83% of its population own a debit card, along with 4 major providers of digital wallets within the country, the report added.

Canada topped the classification, which is likely to be the world’s top country to dispense with banknotes, which will be replaced with electronic payments and e-portfolios.

Hong Kong came in second place, followed by Singapore as the third, New Zealand in the fourth place, and Japan in the fifth place.

The report analysed data obtained from the World Bank, debit and credit card providers, as well as digital-wallet operators to measure levels of non-cash payment methods in countries.

The classification was based on the proportion of the population over 15 years, who own a credit or debit card, the number of ATMs in each country for every 100,000 people, and the number of major e-wallet operators in each country.

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has beefed-up a faster reliance on the digital payments, especially contactless payments, due to increased awareness about the spread of the virus through banknotes and coins.