Egypt and other countries in the MENA region have what it takes to “leapfrog into the digital future,” according to a recent report from the World Bank. Apart from having large populations of educated youth “that have already adopted new digital and mobile technologies on a wide scale,” there is a lot of room for growth in MENA countries. In countries like Egypt — where GDP is seen growing by 5.3% this fiscal year, 5.6% in FY2019-2020, and 5.8% the year after — work is already in progress to introduce new policies and regulations to govern mobile payment systems. Egypt, however, still lacks “regulatory clarification on permissible activities...which will continue to stifle market innovation,” according to the report, which suggests as well that more focused and responsible investment in digital payments and financial tech platforms can help accelerate the growth of the region’s wider digital economy. The full report, “A New Economy for the Middle East and North Africa,” can be found here (pdf).

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