Egypt attracts big share of e-commerce in Africa

SEE – September 1st: Foreign commerce experts expect that Egypt is already attracting a big share of e-commerce in the African continent in 2018.

According to the business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, Africa's e-commerce market is projected to reach 50 billion US dollars in 2018. The bulk of this growth has been in Africa's hub economies, including Egypt.

In further attempts to expand the country's e-commerce sector, Egypt revealed a plan to double the number of businesses selling products and services online by 2020 at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva.

"This has become one of the priorities by the government recently, to direct people to the online market, especially that the number of Egyptians who log onto the internet has reached 80 million. It's very promising and growing fast," said Mohy Abdel Salam, a financial consultant at Bayt El Khebra Group - a private company operating within the persified financial sectors.

To reach its potential, the Egyptian Ministry of Telecommunication has promised to provide wider and faster access to postal services as well as cheaper, high speed internet and improved 4G services for mobile users.

The government hopes to build the culture of online shopping and finance in Egypt. And experts hope the state's plan for 2020 would encourage more youths to set up online companies and shops.

"The government is now beginning to pay all its salaries to state employees online and is transferring all payments for administrative services such as car license renewals or tax and tariff payments to be online as well. This would create a culture of online finance and serves electronic trade industry," Salam said.