Digital payments share in retail rises to 30%
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is inching closer to its target for its digitalization efforts in 2023, as total digital payments hit about 30 percent in 2021.
In a report on Wednesday, the BSP said the share of digital payments to total retail payments volume in the Philippines rose to 30.3 percent in 2021 from 20.1 percent last year.
Meanwhile, the value of digital payments in the country represented 44.1 percent of total retail payments in 2021, also up from the 26.8 percent recorded a year earlier.
BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said the latest results affirm that they are on the road to meeting their objective of converting at least 50 percent of retail payment transactions to digital form by the end of 2023, under the BSP Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap.
According to the Central Bank, the key contributors to the overall growth of digital payments were merchant payments, peer-to-peer (P2P) remittances, and business payments of salaries and wages to employees, all of which are highfrequency, low-value retail transactions.
e volume of merchant payments also increased by 43.8 percent, while P2P remittances grew by 268.6 percent.
Business payments of salaries and wages, meanwhile, grew by 170.2 percent during the period.
is indicates that for salary disbursements, businesses are transitioning from cash to digital channels, such as electronic fund transfers to bank or e-money accounts.
Moreover, the significant rise in the use of account-to-account electronic fund transfers could be seen as a result of expanding access to transaction accounts and the shifting preference of consumers toward the use of digital modes for payments.
“is capability for digital transactions should be within reach of every Filipino in our increasingly digital economy,” Medalla said.
“Hence, the BSP, with the support of the payments industry led by the Philippine Payments Management Inc., continues to promote a vibrant and inclusive digital payments ecosystem where every Filipino can actively participate and enjoy its benefits,” he added.