Indonesia Plans Expanding QRIS to ASEAN

TheIndonesia.id - Bank of Indonesia, the central bank, plans to expand the Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS)to ASEAN countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. Cross-border payments using QRIS and Thai QR Payment from Thailand are also being tested, head of Bank Indonesia's payment system policy department, Retno Ponco Windarti.

In the past year, the use of QRIS as a payment channel has grown by 163.5 percent (YoY), or worth Rp2.13 trillion, Windarti noted. The number of micros, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) adopting the Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS) in the country has reached 13 million as of November, exceeding the target for 2021.

"QRIS acceptance continues to grow positively. In fact, the expansion of the QRIS ecosystem has exceeded BI's target. In 2021, our target was to acquire 12 million merchants; we have reached 13 million users in November," said Windarti on Friday, December 3, 2021.

QRIS users are dominated by micro and small business actors. Through the use of QRIS, BI hopes to help the businesses run amid the pandemic, she added.

She further said that BI and its partners are currently expanding QRIS to overseas locations and starting to implement the National Open API Payment Standard (SNAP) in the payment system.

This is part of the implementation of BI's pro-growth policies by encouraging the digitization of the payment system, she explained. Open API involves communication between actors through an application program interface (API), she said.

Apart from QRIS, digital payments through banking have also seen considerable growth of 60.25 percent (YoY) or Rp3,469 trillion, Windarti said. The digital payment system comprises mobile banking (Rp693 trillion), Internet banking (Rp2,775 trillion), and phone banking (Rp0.12 trillion), she added.

In addition, electronic money has also recorded a growth of 43.6 percent or Rp24.75 trillion. This growth has mainly been driven by server-based electronic money of Rp22.7 trillion, followed by chip-based of Rp2.06 trillion, she added.

Earlier on Thursday, the Bank Indonesia (BI) Representative Office in West Papua launched the SIAP QRIS (Healthy, Innovative, and Safe to be Used Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) digital payment at the Remu Sorong traditional market.

Deputy head of the Representative Office, James Wilson L. Tobing, informed that the digital payment service was launched in collaboration with the Sorong city government, banks, and digital payment service providers.

Many of the more complicated and huge business challenges faced by entrepreneurs as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) amid the COVID-19 pandemic can be resolved through digital transactions, he said.

Thus, digitization can play a crucial role to help recover the community’s economy in Indonesia amid the pandemic and it will continue to develop and increase the competitiveness of business actors in improving their business, he added.

Hence, considering the important role of digitization, digital transformation must be conducted in all sectors, especially in traditional and modern markets, he said. (Antara)