Saudi Arabia’s payment revenues forecast to rise to $23.7 bln by 2030: BCG

National payment revenues in Saudi Arabia are expected to increase to $23.7 billion (SAR 88.8 billion) by 2030, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

This represents an increase of 132% year-on-year (YoY) from 2020, while the number of transactions is expected to rise by 227% from approximately 2.6 billion to over 8.5 billion during the same timeframe, the consultancy said in a report, titled “Global Payments 2021: All In for Growth”.

The report further highlighted that national payment revenues increased by 37% to $10.2 billion (SAR 38.2 billion) between 2015 and 2020.

As purchasing habits shifted almost overnight from offline to online and cash to non-cash following COVID-19, the payments industry subsequently suffered an impact far less severe than initially anticipated.

Furthermore, Saudi Arabia has the potential to record sustained growth over the next 10 years and beyond, with a forecasted compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8% from 2020 to 2030.

“Having evaluated the Saudi Arabian landscape, it is clear that the Kingdom’s economic rebound of late is partly due to a robust payments industry,” said Mohammad Khan, Partner at BCG.

“The industry is now positioned for a new era of efficiency and effectiveness in the years ahead, with growth projections indicating that this scenario will indeed transpire.”

Over the coming years, the retail revenue of payments in the Kingdom is projected to witness sizeable increases. In 2020, the retail revenue of payments amounted to over $9 billion (SAR 33.7 billion).

However, this figure is expected to rise to approximately $20.6 billion (SAR 77.2 billion) by 2030 – an increase of 128% - with the number of related transactions also rising by almost 210% from 2.3 billion in 2020 to over 7.2 billion by 2030.

“When assessing the Saudi payments industry over the next decade, heightened innovation will drive never-before-seen digital transaction numbers, with purchasing barriers being emulated on a sustained basis,” Markus Massi, Managing Director and Senior Partner at BCG, said.