Google Wallet launches in South Africa as digital payments boom

Aug 23 (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) launched Google Wallet in South Africa on Tuesday, as the tech giant tries to gain a foothold in the country’s rapidly growing digital payments space.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital transactions and people increasingly prefer making contactless payments via their smart devices. High smartphone penetration has also helped adoption rates.

The Google Wallet app stores a consumer’s credit or debit card information and allows…