How do people in the Central African Republic pay online?
Electronic payments are at an early stage. The BEAC, the central bank of the six CEMAC countries, reports that the Central African Republic made up 0.43% of the region’s payment transactions in 2024 and 0.07% of their value. Cash dominates: card holders made 1,614,023 cash machine withdrawals worth XAF 120.2 billion, and bank counters handled 412,014 manual withdrawals worth XAF 148.0 billion.
Mobile money is the largest electronic channel by number of transactions. The country had 559,620 mobile money accounts at the end of 2024, which made 27,527,169 transactions worth XAF 189.4 billion. Orange Centrafrique runs Orange Money, part of a service Orange says reached 47 million customers across its Africa and Middle East markets at the end of 2025. Moov Africa, the Maroc Telecom group’s brand, also runs a mobile network in the country; EcoMatin reported that its customer base rose from 230,000 to 275,000 in the first nine months of 2024.
Bank transfers are used more than cards. Banks processed 1,230,563 transfers in 2024, 18.76% more than in 2023. Cards remain rare: 64,307 active cards, 54 cash machines and 70 card terminals, with 64,952 card payments at merchants worth XAF 4.7 billion. In 2022 the BEAC counted four banks in the country with 153,331 accounts.
Cards in the CEMAC run on Visa, GIMAC, UnionPay and Mastercard. Since 2020 GIMAC, the regional interbank group, has made mobile money and instant transfers interoperable across the region, and it processed 11.21 million such transactions in 2024.
What rules shape online payments in the Central African Republic?
Payment services follow CEMAC rules. The payment services regulation of 21 December 2018 sets the conditions under which banks and payment institutions provide payment services in the region. A payment institution must show that it holds a ring-fenced account for customer funds with one or more banks, an insurance contract or a bank guarantee before the banking commission COBAC approves it.
Large payments must be non-cash. CEMAC Regulation No. 03/16/CEMAC/UMAC/CM requires a non-cash means of payment for any transaction above XAF 500,000, as the BEAC recalls in its 2024 report. BEAC Instruction No. 001/GR/2024 of 22 January 2024 sets technical standards for electronic payment instruments, including how transactions are authenticated and how complaints are handled.
Cross-border payments follow the exchange regulation. Under CEMAC Regulation No. 02/18/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, settlements with other countries are made only through credit institutions (Article 30), and imports of goods worth XAF 5 million or more must be domiciled with a bank (Article 63). Foreign currency for travel, including by card, is capped at the equivalent of XAF 5 million per person (Article 77), with larger justified needs handled by authorised intermediaries.
National tax and data protection rules apply on top of the regional framework. Merchants should confirm the current VAT rate and data obligations with a local adviser before launch.
How would Omno route payments in the Central African Republic?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In the Central African Republic:
- Orange Money pay-ins would go to a provider that holds an Orange Money connection in XAF, with the order pending until the customer confirms.
- Other wallets can be added next to Orange Money in the hosted checkout as providers connect them, each with its own routing rule.
- Card pay-ins can be routed by BIN, with cascading: if a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment moves to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
- Amount rules can send larger orders to bank-based payments or to the provider the merchant prefers.
Webhooks would carry the final status of each payment, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for a small, cash-led market. Electronic payments are still a fraction of activity, so wallets and transfers matter more than cards.
Plan for asynchronous wallet payments. Mobile money approvals happen on the customer’s phone, so orders need a pending state and a final status from the provider.
Plan for bank settlement under the CEMAC exchange regulation when funds leave the region.
Plan for local advice on tax and data rules before launch.