30% of money transactions in PH now done online

The Philippines is en route to becoming “cash-lite” by 2023 as nearly a third of financial transactions in the country are already being done online or through digital channels, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said on Wednesday.

During the launch of the eGov Pay and QR Ph, Diokno told reporters that the BSP had updated its earlier target to capture 20 percent of total payments in the country through digital and electronic means in 2020 to a higher 30 percent.

Asked where the Philippines stood at present, Diokno replied: “My guess is we’re now already at 30 percent.”

Diokno said the initiatives under which transactions with government agencies could be paid online and through other digital means were boosting the BSP’s digital transformation program.

According to Diokno, the Philippines cannot be cashless yet by 2023 but eGov Pay and QR Ph will help the country become cash-lite four years from now.

The eGov Pay is an online facility through which customers can pay their taxes and other government fees via Land Bank of the Philippines’ Link.Biz portal, which accepts payments from deposit or electronic money accounts using PESONet.

While the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Department of Trade and Industry were the only two agencies using eGov Pay at present, Diokno said he was optimistic that “all government agencies will be part of the system before 2023, if not sooner.”

“I am confident that by 2023, if we all work together, we will have 100-percent [eGov Pay] coverage—that’s a promise,” Diokno said.—BEN O. DE VERA