Ramallah-(BNEWS)-Today, the Governor of the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA), Dr. Feras Milhem, announced the launch of the Point-of-Sale transactions service, through the 194 National Key System, which connects all points of sale in Palestine so that the transactions executed through it are internally cleared, which will lead to reducing costs and increasing usage.
This came in a ceremony organized by the PMA at its headquarters in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, in the presence of the Deputy Governor, Mr. Mohammad Manasrah, and representatives of banks, lending institutions, electronic payment service companies, chambers of commerce, unions and economic syndicates.
In his speech, the Governor welcomed the attendants and the partners who provide the Point-of-Sale service, pointing to the interest of the PMA in strengthening the infrastructure, which is an essential factor for the prosperity of electronic financial services in Palestine, with the importance of raising the level of security in it and reducing the use of cash.
The governor explained that the PMA has worked to reduce the Point-of-Sale commission, which is imposed on the owner of the commercial facility or service providers, and fixed it to a maximum (0.5%), after it was more than (3%), also the customer or buyer does not bear any additional amounts on the value of their purchases while using the Points-of-Sale. In addition, the PMA will not charge any fees for the passage of transactions through the system.
The governor stressed that the introduction of Point-of-Sale transactions on the national key will contribute to enhancing competition and reducing prices, as the PMA allowed the entry of other service providers, and the number of providers has become three: Bank of Palestine, the Arab Bank, and the Middle East Payment Services Company MEPS, and there are more than 9000 Points-of-sale distributed in the Palestinian market.
Dr. Feras Milhem explained that awareness campaigns will be launched for citizens about the use of cards at points of sale, calling on service providers to promote the spread of points of sale, and motivate card holders to use them in when purchasing from points of sale, in addition to alleviating the requirements and conditions to accept merchants’ request to install points of sale.
The PMA Governor indicated that the future is for electronic services and electronic payment to transform into a digital economy, noting that the government has experimentally launched a system of electronic services, which will be available to the public soon.
Here, the governor indicated that the cost of dealing in cash will increase in the future. This is to motivate merchants and citizens to use electronic payment services and find solutions to the accumulation of the Israeli shekel in the Palestinian markets.
The ceremony included a presentation by the PMA about the system, its benefits and uses, presentations from service providers about their plans to increase the spread and use of points of sale, short video presentations, an explanation of the features and technology used, and then a panel discussion.
