Egypt’s state-employees’ payroll cards will be replaced entirely by prepaid Meeza electronic cards once they officially launch at the end of February, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait announced on Tuesday.

1.2 million state-employees’ payroll cards will be replaced by Meeza cards from February all the way through April —with more to follow in the coming months — in cooperation with Misr Banque, National Bank of Egypt, Housing and Development Bank, Arab African International Bank, Emirates NBD, Banque de Caire, Arab Banking Corporation, the United Bank, and the Commercial International Bank, in addition to Egypt Post, Maait illustrated.

The transition is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

The minister also expounded that Meeza cards will allow employees to deposit and withdraw cash, transfer payments, and repay governmental dues using cashless methods and the online point of sale system, adding that Meeza will provide an in-advance monthly salary withdrawal service — 30 percent of the total salary — for the state’s employees that will be free for the first six months of using these cards.

Emad Abdel-Hamid, head of the finance sector and supervisor of the electronic payment and collection unit at the ministry of finance, said that the ministry started to adopt its digital transformation in 2007 to contribute to the integration between the monetary and fiscal policies of the state, and achieve the Egypt 2030 vision.

Director of the electronic payment and collection unit at the finance ministry Dalia Fawzi explained that all issues that were tracked during the two pilot stages, carried out during 2020, of replacing state-employees’ cards with Meeza cards were avoided.

She added that the action saves about 25 percent of currency issuance and around 50 percent of the time needed to perform the service, in addition to reducing the required procedures, which are all expected to contribute to the advancement of Egypt’s rank in the international indices concerning doing business and transparency.