eServices taking a big leap

Manama : Bahrain’s shift towards a digital economy is witnessing a big boost with the total value of cashless transactions made through eServices portal recording a 61 percent jump during the year 2017. 

As per the data released by the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA), “Services and financial transactions reached over BD74 million across all channels,” an indication that more people in Bahrain are adopting ePortal services, ditching traditional means, to interact with the government. 

“Not only did visits increased to the portal but the value of financial transactions made on the portal rose,” said iGA Chief Executive Mohamed Ali AlQaed during a press conference held yesterday. 

According to him, in the financial year 2017, Bahrain’s eGovernment services portal reported a significant 57pc increase in visits when compared to that in 2016.

Citing the newly released data, he further revealed that 91pc of the objectives, undertaken by the National eGovernment Strategy 2017, have been achieved.  

“We have over-achieved in most of our KPIs last year,” he said stressing that the authority is expecting a better performance because “we have learned where to improve.”

Explaining he said: “We will make many improvements this year by bringing new concepts and we think we are at the beginning of a success story, in the right direction.”

Elaborating more on the success of National eGovernment Strategy 2017, iGA Acting Vice CE of eTransformation Dr Zakareya Ahmed AlKhaja said, “Some of the key achievements of 2017 include an increase of the number of registered eKey users to 75,000 users.”

“The total number of financial transactions completed through the echannels has also risen by 42% to exceed the annual targeted rate by 20%,” he said adding: “Four comprehensive government systems have been launched including the Pre-employment Medical Check-up for Expatriate Employees, National Payment Aggregator, Majalis and Government Committees system, Managing Affairs of Senior Centers system of the Ministry of Labour and Social Development.”