People Are Increasingly Fond Of Shopping Ahead Of Ramadan, Credit Card Transactions Reach IDR 596.2 Trillion

JAKARTA – The seasonal period of Ramadan is usually followed by an increase in trade and public spending activities. This is also what was captured by Bank Indonesia (BI) in its recent report.

It was stated that indications of a surge in consumption were recorded from the increase in the number of transactions and the value of transactions in the use of banking facilities.

"The value of payment transactions using ATM cards, debit cards, and credit cards grew by 2.88 percent year on year (yoy) to IDR 596.2 trillion in February 2022," said BI Governor Perry Warjiyo through a virtual channel in the middle of last week.

According to Perry, the same thing was also reflected in the value of electronic money transactions which shot up 41.35 percent yoy to reach IDR 27.1 trillion and the value of digital banking transactions which rose 46.53 percent yoy to IDR 3.732.8 trillion.

This portrait is considered by Perry to be in line with the central bank's efforts to continue to accelerate digitalization and strengthen payment systems that are fast, easy, cheap, safe, and reliable in order to encourage public consumption to support economic recovery.

"Economic transactions and digital finance are growing rapidly in line with the increasing expectations and preferences of the public in online shopping, the expansion, and convenience of digital payment systems, as well as the acceleration of digital banking," he said.

Meanwhile, other strategic steps carried out by BI are the implementation of BI FAST transactions through the expansion of service channels, assistance to participants, and education to the public. To note, the latest BI FAST feature allows banking customers to get a cheaper interbank transfer fee of IDR 2.500 from the previous IDR 6.500.

In addition, the monetary authority also encourages the use of QRIS services in people's daily economic transactions with a target of 15 million new users by the end of 2022.

"Coordination with the government continues to be carried out in order to strengthen synergies and accelerate the digitization of payments through accelerated electronification of social assistance, regional government transactions, and transportation," concluded BI Governor Perry Warjiyo.