MANILA – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Tuesday the goal to raise the share of digital payments in retail transactions to 50 percent for 2023 has been achieved.
In a statement, the BSP, citing the results of its 2023 Report on E-Payments Measurement, said the share of digital payment transactions to total monthly retail payments in the Philippines grew from 42.1 percent in 2022 to 52.8 percent in 2023.
In a separate briefing at the BSP office in Manila, BSP officer-in-charge Mamerto Tangonan said this is equivalent to 2.62 billion monthly payment transactions made digitally.
“This amounts to USD110 billion or PHP6.1 trillion or 55.3% of the total value of digital payments, a surge from 40.1% in 2022,” Tangonan said.
The main contributors to the increase in e-payments were merchant payments which accounted for 64.9 percent of monthly digital payments volume, person-to-person transfers at 19.3 percent, and business-to-business supplier payments at 6.1 percent.
This is consistent with the growth in ownership of transaction accounts, which are mostly e-money accounts that are increasingly used for payments.
“We take pride in this achievement as proof that our pursuit of a cash-lite economy has consistently been progressing. We owe this to our citizens who are the foremost beneficiaries of a safe, efficient, and inclusive digital payments system,” BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. said in a statement.
“As we serve their payment needs and deepen financial inclusion, we are ready to bring digital finance to new heights,” he said.
Remolona, however, said that achieving the target is not the end goal.
“What we would like to see are lives being transformed by our policies,” he said.
“When overseas Filipinos conveniently send remittances at faster and cheaper rates; when businesses, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises, accept e-payments and transact with suppliers and billers digitally; and when every Juan and Maria’s preferred mode of payment is digital –these represent the fulfillment of BSP’s vision of a safe, efficient, reliable and inclusive payment system,” he added. (PNA)