MANILA, Philippines — Transactions using EGov Pay—an online payment app for taxes, permits and other government fees—rose sharply in volue and value by May 2021 as Filipinos continued to use digital platforms during the pandemic.
At an online briefing, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said the use of EGov Pay for payments to government increased year-on-year by over 5,000 percent in volume and almost 2,000 percent in value in May.
EGov Pay transactions also increased by an average of 98 percent in volume and 126 percent in value from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021. Payment of fees for clearances and taxes drove most of the utilization of this facility.
“Aside from curbing revenue leaks, fostering better audit trail and enhancing transparency, the wider usage of EGov Pay is seen to promote efficiency in the country’s revenue generation efforts under the new economy,” Diokno said.
From only two government institutions when the facility was launched in 2019, EGov Pay now has 387 government billers. This translates to 90 percent of total government billers for inclusion in the digital platform in 2021.
Amid the sustained rise in billers, the BSP is approaching its goal of “onboarding” 100 percent of the target number of participating government entities this year.
“All these EGov Pay numbers show that the dramatic shift of payments made to government into digital form,” Diokno said.
Government clients can use EGov Pay by initiating payments through the Land Bank of the Philippines’ Link.Biz portal which will direct them to the Philippine Clearing House Corp.’s PayGate platform.
This platform allows government clients to choose the payment service provider from which funds will be transferred to the government via PESONet, an electronic fund transfer facility that serves as an alternative to the paper-based cheque system.
More government transactions are expected to be facilitated through EGov Pay transactions as the BSP continues to closely work with the payments industry, led by the Philippine Payments Management Inc. to attract more government institutions and PESONet participating financial institutions.
“The sustained growth in EGov Pay transactions provide strong support to BSP initiatives to digitalize person to government payments and to digitalize at least half of retail payment transactions by 2023,” Diokno said.