The role of electronic payment methods in developing foreign trade – experiences of selected countries with reference to Iraq

To The Council Of The College Of Administration And Economics/ Karbala Universityas  Partial Of The Requirements For Degree of  Master Sciences In Economic

By The Student

(Muhammad Abbas Jabr Salman)

Supervision By

Assest.Prof.Dr 

Kadhim Saad Abdul Redha  Al-Araji

Abstract

The electronic payment system is one of the methods that can contribute to the development of the economic and financial sector in the country, as it means sending money quickly and efficiently and providing cost and convenience for payments between banks and financial and economic institutions in a good and effective way. With the development of the global economy and the prosperity of the information technology revolution witnessed by the global economy, the importance of electronic payment methods has emerged to meet the requirements of the new economic situation. Its importance has emerged through the major role it plays in keeping pace with the development of electronic settlement operations, especially after the outside world has shifted from traditional operations to electronic operations within the framework of trade exchange between countries. What is important to know in this research is whether the electronic payment method has a role in the development of foreign trade, and whether this role is positive or negative. The research focused on an important point, which is that the spread of the use of these methods will have a positive impact on foreign trade variables due to the advantages provided by these methods. One of the most important things that the research aims to do is to know how or the mechanisms for transferring the advantages of electronic payment methods to foreign trade variables and to clarify the relationship and the extent of the impact of these methods in supporting trade and facilitating commercial operations, The research covered a sample of three countries, which are (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, (Jordan) with a reference to Iraq, and the research period was (2011 – 2022) for each of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq) As for Jordan, the research period was 2015 – (2022) due to the lack of data for previous years. Through the analysis of tables and charts, the research concluded that there is a clear and important role for electronic payment methods in developing foreign trade, as they achieve high speed in exchange and settlement of transactions and commercial exchange, as well as reduce effort and time. This has been positively reflected in revitalizing the movement of exchange with the outside world, while the researcher presented a set of recommendations. We suggest that the relevant authorities in Iraq take into consideration keeping pace with the technological development in electronic trade exchange operations with the outside world by encouraging government and private banks to increase the number of ATMs and issue the largest number of electronic payment cards, which will be positively reflected in the development of foreign trade in line with the outside world at the current stage, and the necessity of updating banking systems and special educational curricula in the field of communications and information technology and spreading modern technological culture to keep pace with the development with the outside world, which will be positively reflected in trade exchange operations, reducing effort and shortening time.