I have urged Bank Indonesia (BI) to connect QRIS across countries as an effort to facilitate MSMEs and our tourism sectorJakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) emphasized that the Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard (QRIS) service connecting payments between countries should be able to facilitate Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and tourism actors.
"I have urged Bank Indonesia (BI) to connect QRIS across countries as an effort to facilitate MSMEs and our tourism sector," he stated at the launch of Domestic Government Credit Cards and International QRIS here, Monday.
The launch marked the cooperation between Indonesia and several ASEAN countries to link their payment systems. As of Monday, the intercountry QRIS tested with Thailand has begun to be fully implemented.
The president is optimistic that International QRIS between countries would improve cost efficiency for business owners, especially MSMEs and the tourism sector, to produce goods and services with competitive value in the foreign markets.
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"We are not only a market and users. We already have an application platform that can bring more users," Jokowi emphasized.
On the same occasion, BI Governor Perry Warjiyo explained that Indonesia had received commitments from four ASEAN countries -- Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines -- to integrate their QR Code payment systems.
"We will connect QR, fast payment, and currencies. Today, we start with full implementation with Thailand. We have tested QR Indonesia with QR Thailand. MSMEs and tourism transactions can connect to the QR," he explained.
In addition, application of the QR payment system linkage has been piloted with Malaysia since January 2022, while the agreement with Singapore is being finalized, Warjiyo noted.
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"In the near future, the five countries will be able to digitize payment systems, cross-border, QR, and fast payments with local currency payments, which also support tourism, MSMEs, and the digital financial economy nationally," he added.
According to data from BI, the value of QRIS transactions in one year was able to grow 305.49 percent to Rp4.52 trillion in February 2022.
Meanwhile, the QRIS transaction volume also grew 268.64 percent (year on year) to 54.91 million in February 2022.
This growth is in line with the trend in the adoption of non-cash payments that continue to be strengthened among merchants.
The COVID-19 pandemic situation is also believed to have accelerated the adoption of digital payment technology.
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Translator: Indra Arief P, Resinta S
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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