E-Commerce Transactions Projected to More Than Double This Year in Indonesia

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Bank Indonesia predicts that digital acceleration will push the country's e-commerce transactions to Rp 429 trillion by the end of 2020.

Bank Indonesia’s projection is more than double the e-commerce transactions last year which reached Rp 205.5 trillion. As of August 2020, e-commerce transactions reached nearly Rp 180 trillion.

“This signals that digital adoption in Indonesia is accelerating. This year, we are expecting transactions in e-commerce to reach Rp 429 trillion based on our projections,” said Bank Indonesia’s Governor Perry Warjiyo.

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Digital acceleration in Indonesia has also resulted in an uptick in digital banking transactions ranging from m-banking, internet banking, and cashless transactions.

The biggest surge has been mobile banking transactions that hit 12 million in August 2020, nearly double the 8 million transactions in August 2019.

The surge in mobile banking activities is largely due to digital acceleration making an impact on Indonesian SMEs.

Over 5 million retail businesses and SMEs in Indonesia have enrolled as national merchants as of October 16, 2020. Out of that 5 million, Indonesian SMEs account for 4.2 million merchants.

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“These are some of the sectors which previously did not have access to financing services, but now they are national merchants connected to the Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS) including health merchants and tourism merchants,” said Perry.

Bank Indonesia’s QRIS strives to promote cashless transactions across the country where a QR pattern makes it possible to conduct any payment from one provider to another within the central bank's ecosystem.

There are 48 Bank Indonesia offices and 45 local governments that have adopted the QRIS and Perry said that the goal is to have 94 local governments adopt the system.

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There are currently 122 local governments that are connected to the e-commerce sector followed by 260 local governments that have adopted internet banking services.

“Adopting digital platforms can truly generate better mobilization, whether it is taxes or the disbursement of the regional budget, thus helping to improve the state of local economies,” Perry said.

(Writer: Fika Nurul Ulya | Editor: Bambang P. Jatmiko)

Source: https://money.kompas.com/read/2020/10/22/051200926/bi-prediksi-transaksi-e-commerce-melonjak-sampai-rp-429-triliun-sepanjang-2020