{"id":314055,"date":"2024-04-26T14:20:56","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T12:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monitor.al\/?p=314055"},"modified":"2024-05-03T17:04:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T15:04:06","slug":"online-payments-the-state-the-fictional-leader-of-digitization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monitor.al\/online-payments-the-state-the-fictional-leader-of-digitization\/","title":{"rendered":"Online payments\/ The state, the fictional leader of digitization?"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the government’s rhetoric presents the public sector as the leader of digitization in services and payments, the reality is much more complex. Public institutions and companies continue to offer only cash payments in their counters. Digitization of services has often created more problems and delays than ease in receiving them from citizens. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ersuin Shehu<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the beginning of this year, a colleague and reader of “Monitor” wrote us to share an experience from serving in public institutions. He went for the the periodic annual technical inspection of the vehicle and had to pay the annual tax on used vehicles. In his view, it was surprising that still in 2024, the General Directorate of Road Transport Services did not yet offer at its counters the possibility to pay taxes and fees by bank card.<\/p>\n

Such un impression from his part, seems reasonable, especially considering the strong propaganda that tends to present the public sector as the vanguard of digitization in Albania.<\/p>\n

The paradox of the reign of cash in public sector payment services is not an isolated case. In almost all companies or public institutions that offer payment services, the only option is cash payment.<\/p>\n

At the counters of the Universal Service Provider, payment is made in cash only. At the counters of the Water-Sewage companies, it is only paid in cash. At the counters of the Albanian Post, you can also pay only in cash.<\/p>\n

Even the payment of pensions, to the overwhelming extent, continues to be made in cash, through the counters of the Albanian Post. Pensioners have the opportunity to request that the pension payment be made to a bank account, by submitting a request for this purpose to the Social Insurance Institute. However, from experience, this movement takes time and has often caused delays in pension payments to the new account. The government has warned that soon, all pensions will be paid into bank accounts, but has not yet announced a deadline for this and has not detailed how this process will happen.<\/p>\n

The transfer of pensions to banks is expected to follow the approval of the new law on the payment account with basic services, which provides for the provision of the most important free payment services for special segments of the population, including pensioners.<\/p>\n

While very often, government leaders have drawn the attention of the banking sector for lagging on the digitalization path, the fact is that the only way for non-cash payments of obligations to the public sector is what the banking and financial sector enables.<\/p>\n

Electronic payments for invoices or other services of companies and public institutions are offered in non-cash forms, only through the service of banks or non-bank financial institutions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

e-Albania, still no online payments<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the summer of 2022, the digital public services portal, e-Albania, suffered a serious cyber attack that caused the theft of personal data of Albanian citizens and a lack of public services from this platform for several weeks.<\/p>\n

Until the moment of the attack, payments could be made through e-albania for special public services, offered only by a commercial bank, through a virtual POS (e-commerce service). But, after the cyber attack, even this only possibility was suspended, even the bank in question itself became the object of a serious cyber attack. One of the hypotheses is that the attack may have come precisely because of the interaction with the e-Albania platform.<\/p>\n

Since then, making payments for public services from the e-Albania platform is still impossible and citizens or entities that receive the services of the platform must make payments for the services at the counters of financial institutions and then wait for confirmation of the payment for the entity relevant public. This causes long delays in receiving service.<\/p>\n

Since March, one of the commercial banks in the country has been advertising the possibility of making payments in e-Albania through its internet banking application. Such information is not provided on the e-Albania portal, while in practice it is impossible to make payments through the site. If you select a service and click the “pay” button, it simply redirects you back to the portal’s home page.<\/p>\n

The only alternative is to pay for the service at the counters of banks or financial institutions and upload the document confirming the payment to e-Albania and wait for the payment confirmation to be sent to the public institution. This causes huge delays in receiving the service, undermining the advantages that a digitized process offers.<\/p>\n

At the end of 2022, the National Agency of the Information Society announced that payments, starting from the beginning of this year, would be made according to a new service, which avoided direct interaction between the banking systems and the e-Albania portal, due to problems related to cyber security. The scheme provided that the portal would generate a payment mandate through which the citizen would be able to make the payment with his bank’s e-banking service. Upon making the payment, the confirmation would be automatically sent to the e-Albania system, to pave the way for the requesting entity to receive the service.<\/p>\n

“Citizens and businesses will be given the opportunity to select the second-tier bank for each required public service, with which they have an account and from where they can make payments\/obligations, through the digital instruments offered by the bank selected by him\/herself. The bank will be recognized directly with these data and after making the payment, the institution for which the citizen or business has requested a service, will receive in real time the confirmation of the successful completion of the payment, to continue in parallel with the provision of the service. This cooperation process has started, driven by the continuous demands of citizens and businesses to benefit from electronic payments for online public services,” it was said in the announcement of AKSHI, in November 2022.<\/p>\n

However, even this project so far has not produced any tangible results.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Ministry of Finance sent an invitation for bids to several information technology companies, with the aim of building a system for setting up and maintaining a public electronic payment platform. However, the Ministry of Finance refused to provide official information about such a procedure and it is not yet clear what will be the final solution for making online payments for public services.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Digitization\u2026 spilled everything<\/strong><\/p>\n

The digitization of public services has been an important topic in the rhetoric of the Prime Minister and other government leaders. Digitization is simultaneously presented as a way to facilitate the receipt of services by the public, but also to reduce corruption, avoiding direct contact between service seekers and public servants.<\/p>\n

Although the digitization of many services has made it easier for the public to get them by saving time, the digitization of the state has another side of the coin.<\/p>\n

The digitization process has failed to provide a sufficient standard of information security. The severe cyber attack on e-Albania in 2022 and subsequently on the systems of other public institutions proves this.<\/p>\n

In particular, the state has not taken any responsibility for the flagrant incidents of leakage of personal data of Albanian citizens. For years, Albanians have been circulating lists with their personal identification number, phone number, monthly salary or car license plate number.<\/p>\n

The digitization of services must go hand in hand with the raising of security standards that enable the preservation of sensitive and personal data of subjects. The leakage of these data exposes us to economic, security, reputation or human dignity damages. A digital government where no one is impressed anymore by the leakage of personal data stored in public databases has failed in this regard.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Blind” and “deaf” digitization<\/strong><\/p>\n

The decision to fully digitize the provision of services without yet being able to provide an optimal service and an information channel to the public has brought numerous problems especially in matters related to property documents. The closure of all physical service counters of the State Cadastre Agency brought long delays in receiving the service and often complete confusion for citizens. As long as there was a physical office or counter, at least standing in line you could try to get information about what was happening with the application for receiving the service. The full digitization of the service meant that citizens often found themselves without any explanation or answer for delays in receiving the service.<\/p>\n

The Albanian government decided to close all the physical counters of the state Cadastre, as of July 3, 2023, and offer all the services of this agency exclusively online, through the e-Albania portal. But what happened after the closing of the physical counters showed that, in fact, the state structures were not at all ready to offer an optimal service, or even a normal one. For the months that followed, the complete digitalization of the Cadastre service created major delays in the time of receiving these services, if not literally blocking their receipt. This situation is creating serious consequences for citizens and the economy. The real estate market in recent years is among the main contributors to economic growth. The blocking of Cadastre services almost paralyzed the market and makes it impossible to register sales contracts, but also other contracts related to real estate, in addition to receiving other cadastral services for citizens.<\/p>\n

The effects of this situation already extended to related sectors of the economy, such as the banking sector. According to the periodic surveys of the Bank of Albania, approximately half of the properties are sold with bank loans.<\/p>\n

Last summer, the Albanian Association of Banks complained with a letter to ASHK, about the delays in receiving the service, so much so that the non-performance of the actions of blocking the properties that are left as collateral became a factor with an important influence in curbing credit for the economy in period July-August 2023. In cases where the loan is guaranteed by collateral in the form of immovable property, the client is obliged to accept the placement of a mortgage lien on the property, in favor of the lending financial institution. Placing a legal mortgage on real estate is an action that must be registered in the cadastral card of the property, at the local directorates of the State Cadastre Agency. In fact, most bank loans are secured by collateral in the form of real estate.<\/p>\n

According to alerts from real estate agents, problems and delays related to Cadastre services continue to exist today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Paperwork and bureaucracy behind the facade of digitization<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another example of “crippling” digitization of public services comes when you want to close a business. A freelancer applied to the National Business Center to close the business as a natural person. However, closing the business requires receiving confirmation from the tax administration that the taxpayer has no obligations to repay. Due to the delays in the process, the person discovered that the communication between the KKB and the relevant Tax Directorate was not digitized at all. Taxes had to send a letter to KKB, so that the closing of the business was finalized. Not only is this link of communication not digitized, but no written confirmation came from Taxes, until the applicant was forced to ask for a personal contact at the Directory of Taxes, in order to send the confirmation that he had no tax obligations to settle. In conclusion, what should have been a digitized service, turned into a service that could only be closed “with a friend” or “with an acquaintance”, according to the tradition of the Albanian administration.<\/p>\n

The experience of Albanians is showing that in order to digitize services, the desire is not enough, nor the temptation to use digitization as a propaganda achievement. The complete digitization of services would require vertical digitization in the back office and interaction processes between institutions. Otherwise, digitization is more likely to worsen the quality and time of receiving the service, as the example of Cadastre has shown in some cases.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The new law on the electronic signature, more than a year suspended<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Albanian banks continue to rely mainly on classic banking products and can perhaps be “criticized” for a low degree of sophistication in this regard, but which, on the other hand, has helped to keep risks related to low financial stability.<\/p>\n

However, when it comes to the digitization of services, especially in payments, progress in recent years is evident. All banks today offer remote banking services, which enable most of the services to be performed without the need to physically go to the bank.<\/p>\n

In general, physical presence in the bank today is still required only in cases where the initial identification of the customer with an identity document and his physical signature on a written contract is required. Today, these restrictions are more related to the ambiguity and shortcomings of the legal framework, than to the desire or will of the banks themselves.<\/p>\n

The law currently in force provides that identification and electronic signature services can be provided by qualified trusted service providers, licensed by the National Authority for Electronic Certification and Cyber Security (AKCESK). Currently, the only national operators licensed for these services are ALEAT and the National Information Society Agency (AKSHI). But the service of these operators has serious limitations. Currently, AKSHI offers electronic signature services only for businesses and only for use in relation to public institutions, while it does not offer genuine electronic identification services. ALEAT offers an electronic identification service, but which requires the purchase by each user of a special device (token), which the individual must connect to the computer and insert the ID card into, to enable remote identification. According to experts, the form provided by ALEAT is a far cry from the contemporary practices used by trusted remote identification service providers today.<\/p>\n

However, the current legislation also creates some other spaces. The law currently in force on electronic identification through several amendments that were made in 2016 states that<\/p>\n

“For Qualified Trust Service Providers, who operate in the member countries of the European Union and are accredited by the relevant supervisory authority, the identifications and trust services issued by them will have the same legal validity and evidential force as those issued by a Qualified Trusted Service Provider operating in the Republic of Albania”.<\/p>\n

Based on this space, some financial institutions already offer services without the need for the client’s physical presence, offering identification and electronic signature at a distance, through trusted service providers, from EU countries.<\/p>\n

Some of the financial institutions in Albania (including banks, microcredit financial institutions and electronic money institutions) already apply remote identification and signing, through trusted providers of this service from European Union countries. These operators provide businesses with remote identification and signature services, without the need for the financial institution’s client to physically appear at the branch. The process is carried out by uploading the identity document to the service providers’ applications and setting the document details. Next, the applications scan the customer’s biometric data (face) and verify that it matches the identity document. When the identity is confirmed, the client further receives an authorization code, which also has the function of electronic signature of the contract with the financial institution.<\/p>\n

In fact, financial institutions are following such a practice by assuming a kind of legal risk, especially in lending relationships. Due to the legal ambiguities that continue to exist and due to the lack of experience with electronic identification and signature, this form can create uncertainty in case of opening a court case with the client.<\/p>\n

However, the new draft law, which went out for consultation at the end of 2022, put the progress so far at risk because it would no longer automatically recognize trusted service providers from EU countries. The draft law required that the trusted service provider, who has not received the “qualified” status and who intends to provide qualified trusted services, within 24 hours of the start of the exercise of the activity, submit to the Authority a request accompanied by the relevant documentation, including the conformity assessment report issued by the Testing and Confirmation Organization. The Testing and Confirmation Organization was intended to be a competent body accredited to carry out conformity assessment and testing of the activity of a Qualified Trusted Service Provider. The operator had to prove to AKCESK that he possesses the necessary reliability and the appropriate specialized knowledge for exercising the activity as a trusted service provider, as well as possessing the necessary financial guarantee for possible compensations, according to the requirements of the new law.<\/p>\n

If the Authority (AKCESK) finds that the Trusted Service Provider and the trusted services provided by it are in accordance with the requirements of this law, no later than three months after receiving the request from the Trusted Service Provider, it shall grant the status “qualified”, and updates the trusted list. The conditions and criteria that must be fulfilled by the Qualified Trusted Service Provider are determined by the decision of the Council of Ministers.<\/p>\n

According to financial institutions, Albania is a small market and important operators from EU countries would not be interested in carrying out a special process of tax registration and legal accreditation in our country. This could pave the way for the creation of local monopolies for the provision of remote identification services. The main argument of the institution that drafted the draft law (AKCESK) is that the automatic recognition of providers from EU countries would violate the principle of reciprocity, as long as Albanian providers do not automatically enjoy the same right to operate in the space of EU.<\/p>\n

The financial institutions suggested that in Article 15 of the law, another point be added, to determine that “For Qualified Trust Service Providers, who operate in European Union member countries and are accredited by the relevant supervisory authority, identifications and services trusts issued by them will have the same legal validity and evidential force as those issued by a Qualified Trust Service Provider operating in the Republic of Albania”.<\/p>\n

However, the draft law in question has not yet been proposed to the Assembly of Albania for approval and it is not clear for the interested parties whether the comments presented will be reflected in the version that will be discussed in the Assembly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The challenge of open banking<\/strong><\/p>\n

The banking sector in the country has been repeatedly criticized by the government regarding digitization. In February of this year, during a meeting with the Governor of the Bank of Albania and the heads of commercial banks, the Prime Minister asked the banks to “get out of their comfort zone”. In this case, the prime minister referred in particular to the delays in the preparation for the implementation of the obligations related to open banking. According to sources from the sector, some banks are ready to start testing, but this Open banking process is among the most important projects in the payments sector. The concept underlies the new law on payment services, which was approved in 2020 and came into force in early 2021. Open banking will enable any individual or entity with a payment account to use the account to perform payment services provided by other financial institutions. Banks will be obliged to grant access with the approval of the account holder and only for the purpose of payment transactions. Open banking will enable two new services, that of payment service initiation and account information.<\/p>\n

The concept of open banking is expected to potentially increase competition in the payments market, creating more competitive space for electronic money institutions.<\/p>\n

Although the new law has been in force for years, the principle of open banking has not yet started to be implemented. Services supported in open banking should be offered as of January 1, 2024, as part of the regulation “On deep customer authentication and common, open and secure communication standards.”<\/p>\n

According to the regulation, banks must at least start testing open banking in the first half of 2024. In case they are not ready to start testing within this deadline, they may be subject to administrative measures by the Bank of Albania. The law on payment services provides for fines from 50,000 ALL to 250,000 ALL, in the event that banks deny payment institutions or electronic money institutions access to bank accounts.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, performing tests for granting access must be done with another licensed financial payment institution. However, the Bank of Albania has clarified that in order to start conducting tests, licensed financial institutions must officially notify the Bank of Albania that they want to offer the two related services, that of payment service initiation and account information.<\/p>\n

On January 1, 2024, the vast majority of financial payment institutions had not performed such a procedure. Consequently, according to sources from the banks, they did not have a partner with whom to test open banking.<\/p>\n

However, according to market sources, some of the banks are ready to start testing open banking with electronic money institutions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

E-banking operations have increased by 120% compared to 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Bank of Albania statistics, the total number of remote banking operations reached 7.67 million, the highest level ever recorded.<\/p>\n

Compared to a year ago, Albanians increased the number of remote banking operations by 22.1% or 1.4 million operations more.<\/p>\n

Since 2019, the number of remote transactions (home banking) has increased by almost 120%. Pandemic-related restrictions brought greater attention to the remote payment options offered by the banking sector in the country. The trend of increasing actions through digital channels has remained stable throughout the post-pandemic period.<\/p>\n

Remote banking is banking transactions that are carried out via the Internet and applications on mobile phones. The increase in the use of remote banking services is still higher in monetary value.<\/p>\n

For the year 2023, the total volume of transactions reached two trillion ALL, increasing by 28.1% compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n

The internet banking service is now offered by all commercial banks in Albania and the number of users of the service is growing rapidly.<\/p>\n

By the end of 2023, the number of bank accounts connected to the Internet reached almost 1.1 million, growing by almost 25% annually. It is estimated that now, 34% of active bank accounts are accessible from the Internet, from 28.2% that was this indicator at the end of 2022.<\/p>\n

More than 90% of the number of resident bank accounts connected to the Internet belong to individuals. However, the largest increase in online accounts last year was in the business segment, up 25% year-on-year.<\/p>\n

For any individual or entity that owns a bank account, the vast majority of payments and transfers can be made via the Internet, without the need to physically go to the bank.<\/p>\n

The use of payments through electronic channels has also been encouraged by the Bank of Albania, through regulatory measures. Since June 2020, all interbank transfers up to the value of 20,000 ALL, which are carried out through electronic channels, must be offered by banks without any commission. Meanwhile, for larger amounts, electronic transfers have commissions at least 50% cheaper compared to those carried out at bank counters. The same policy was followed in the regulation for national transfers in euros, where commissions for electronic transfers must be a maximum of 50% of commissions for payments made in bank branches.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The number of card payments increased by 35%<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bank card payments also registered a strong growth last year and reached historical highs in number and value of transactions. According to statistics from the Bank of Albania, during 2023, card payments at POS terminals (electronic points of sale), reached almost 14.5 million, with an increase of 35% compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n

In transaction value, card payments last year reached 64.1 billion ALL, 26.6% more compared to 2022.<\/p>\n

For 2023, the volume of payments at POS terminals accounted for 14.5% of the total value of card transactions, from 13.9% that had been the weight of these transactions a year ago.<\/p>\n

Card payments are being driven especially by the record growth of inbound tourism. The demand from foreign tourists to pay by card is pushing more businesses to accept payments with these instruments.<\/p>\n

According to data from the Bank of Albania, the number of POS terminals for accepting card payments at the end of last year reached a record number of 19,184, an increase of 18.2% compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n

According to data from the Bank of Albania, at the end of 2023, the number of active bank cards reached 1.43 million, increasing by 4.6% compared to the previous year. The number of debit cards reached 1.24 million, an annual increase of 5%. This product remains dominant and accounts for almost 87% of the total number of bank cards. The debit card is a basic payment instrument, linked to the current accounts of businesses and individuals.<\/p>\n

The year 2023 was also positive in the credit card segment. At the end of last year, the banking sector reported almost 120 thousand active credit cards, with an annual growth of 6.6%. Although the development of this product in the Albanian market is still weak, the number of credit cards has reached the highest historical figure.<\/p>\n

Last summer, the European Commission recommended to Albania the establishment of a ceiling amount for physical cash payments. In the last report of the analysis of Albania’s compliance with the legal and regulatory community framework, the European Commission estimated that our country is only partially compliant with the European Union framework in terms of money laundering investigation. Despite recent progress, Albania’s legislation is partially aligned with that of the EU in this area.<\/p>\n

A similar request for setting a ceiling for cash payments has been expressed for years by the Albanian Association of Banks. According to the Association of Banks, the reduction of physical money in circulation and commercial transactions is a challenge and a requirement for a more organized, more measurable, more disciplined and more stable economy. According to the Banking Association, setting a ceiling on cash payments by individuals would help reduce tax evasion and help fight money laundering and financial crime in general. Also, the Association of Banks has asked the government that businesses in Albania are forced to accept at least one alternative method of payment, apart from cash.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The flock towards fintech, so far few results<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In 2020, Albania adopted the new law on Payment Services. It has been adapted in the spirit of the II Payments Directive of the European Union, to create the spaces of a greater competition in the market of payment services and for a greater development of financial institutions that offer electronic payments.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since then, the payments market is attracting a significant number of new players. In the last two years alone, the Bank of Albania has licensed six new electronic money institutions. The total number of licensed electronic money institutions has reached nine. The largest bank in the country, BKT, has also established an electronic money institution that is expected to be licensed by the Bank of Albania soon.<\/em><\/p>\n

While the banking market in recent years is undergoing a significant consolidation process, with the number of banks decreasing from 16 to 11, the fintechs market appears to be in a very dynamic phase and is attracting new investors. This interest is based on the belief in the still untapped potential that the Albanian market has, in terms of financial inclusion, but also in the competitive advantages that fintech institutions can have, in terms of dynamism and flexibility.<\/em><\/p>\n

Electronic money payment is a form of payment similar to bank card payment, but the main difference is that these transactions are not carried out through cards and POS of the banking sector, but through the infrastructure of licensed electronic money institutions. The figures of the Bank of Albania show that the number and value of transactions with electronic money is growing significantly in recent years. For the past year, the number of electronic money transactions reached 14.1 million, an increase of 38% compared to the previous year.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The growth is equally evident in the number of accounts. According to the Bank of Albania, at the end of last year, the number of electronic money accounts reached almost 153 thousand, increasing by 110% compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n

However, this growth should be read carefully and does not necessarily mean the threshold of an explosion or boom in the fintech sector. Some of the actions with electronic money remain related to actions in cash, such as the various forms of payments that citizens make through physical electronic money counters in cash form, but which are further executed through the electronic money terminals of these operators.<\/p>\n

Also, some of the new electronic money institutions, such as IutePay, link the opening of electronic money accounts with the disbursement of loans from the sister company IuteCredit, which is also the largest consumer microcredit entity in the country. For this reason, part of the growth shown by the above-mentioned figures is related to side factors and does not represent in itself a direct penetration of fintech forms of payments.<\/p>\n

If we look at the financial statements of non-bank payment institutions for the year 2022, most of them have generated modest income and closed the year with a loss.<\/p>\n

Exceptions are made by consolidated financial institutions, such as UFT, AK Invest or Easy Pay, but whose income base is mainly focused on money transfer or over-the-counter payment services.<\/p>\n

Among the new fintech institutions established after 2020, the only entity that reported a profitable result for 2022 was Paysera Albania. This institution has achieved a kind of penetration in the market, but this has mainly come from international money transfer services. Thanks to the infrastructure of the parent company Paysera (the Albanian branch is not a company controlled by Paysera, but a franchise owned by Albanian investors), this institution offers competitive rates of international transfers in the European payment space.<\/p>\n

Until now, the main focus of new fintech institutions has mainly been the creation of electronic accounts\/wallets through which customers can make a wide range of payments, centered on their applications. Payment services include bill and utility payments, money transfers, online or point-of-sale purchases, etc. In general, the aim is to create so-called Super Apps, where customers can make purchases or payments for most common consumer needs.<\/p>\n

However, some of the electronic money institutions are weaving the concept of fintech with the most classic payment instruments, such as cards, to create a bridge with the infrastructure of the banking sector and global operators of payment systems, such as Visa or Mastercard.<\/p>\n

However, until now, fintech institutions are finding it difficult to secure competitive advantages over the banking sector, which has a much greater market penetration and has been offering most of these services for years, through internet banking applications or bank cards.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the government’s rhetoric presents the public sector as the leader of digitization in services and payments, the reality is much more complex. Public institutions and companies continue to offer only cash payments in their counters. Digitization of services has often created more problems and delays than ease in receiving them from citizens. \u00a0 Ersuin […]<\/p>\n

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