Morocco saw a strong increase in bank card payments in 2011, according to new figures from Al-Maghrib Bank, published in Libération newspaper.

Whether through ATMs or online, 17.2 million payments were made using bank cards last year, which represents an increase of 21.8 percent compared to 2010.

This increase is mainly due to 22.9 percent of payments being made across Electronic Payment Terminals, according to Bank Al-Maghrib.

These figures are a credit to the efforts of the Centre for Interbank Cashless Transactions (Centre Monétique Interbancaire - CMI), according to its new general director Mikael Naciri.

He told Le Matin newspaper that the CMI will keep on encouraging retailers and small businesses to accept card payments and create awareness among bank card holders of the benefits of using their card as a payment method.

Mr Naciri added that the CMI will also continue its partnership with Moroccan banks, Visa and Mastercard, launching awareness campaigns and incentives to pay by bank card.

In 2012 "we will continue to develop electronic payment and bank card usage in Morocco. The investments projects will be focusing on new payment systems, such as the American system Discover or the Chinese system Union Pay", he said.