The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) attributed the 50% target growth in digital payments to the government’s digital transformation efforts, especially at the grassroots level. BSP is optimistic that we the continued adoption of digital payments among small businesses, the figures will further increase in the coming months.
BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan also points to the implementation of the BSP’s 2020-2023 Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap (DPTR) for this growth in digital payments.
“In 2013, we started with a mere 1% share of digital to total retail payments,” Tangonan said. “Fast forward to 2022, and we saw a whopping 42.1% share in digital retail payments transactions. I believe we reached our 50-percent target by the end of 2023.”
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Initiatives
Initiatives driving this success include the aggressive promotion and rollout of the Paleng-QR Ph Plus program. This initiative enables wet market merchants to accept digital payments, contributing to the overall digital payment landscape.
The Bills Pay Ph initiative has been launched to streamline the country’s fragmented bills payment system. This allows users to conveniently pay their bills, regardless of whether they have an account with their billers’ payment service provider. Bills Pay Ph aims to bridge the gap between those with and without access to financial services, thereby enhancing financial inclusion.
“Through these digital payment facilities, an even greater portion of the population can now actively participate in the formal economy,” the BSP said.