Jakarta (ANTARA) - Executive head for the monitoring of behavior of financial service business players, education, and consumer protection at the Financial Services Authority (OJK), Friderica Widyasari, expressed optimism that the improvement in digital economic and financial transactions will continue.

"This projection is in line with the expansion and optimization of the digital financial service users' ecosystem," she explained at a National Webinar 2nd Edition event entitled “Customers' Protection against Digital Financial Crimes" on Monday.

Widyasari noted that Indonesia's digital financial transactions have shown highly significant growth since they have provided several conveniences and benefits to consumers, the community, and the economy of the country.

Based on data from Bank Indonesia (BI), the value of electronic money transactions in March 2023 swelled by more than 11 percent year-on-year (yoy) to reach Rp34 trillion (around US$2.28 billion).

Meanwhile, the value of digital banking transactions increased by nearly 10 percent yoy to around Rp4,900 trillion (around US$329.72 billion).

According to her, there are several factors responsible for the positive growth of Indonesia's digital economic and financial transactions. The first factor is the rapid improvement in the adaptation of digital transactions, in line with the country's Internet penetration.

Based on a survey carried out by the Internet Service Providers Association (APJII), the number of Internet users in Indonesia in 2022–2023 reached 215 million, or equal to 78 percent of the total population of the country.

The second factor is the presence of new payment methods, especially the Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) initiated by BI, which has made digital financial transactions faster.

She further said that digital transformation has also increased the penetration and coverage of financial services in the country, which has subsequently encouraged an improvement in inclusive finance and the empowerment of people who previously did not have access to formal financial services.

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Translator: Agatha Olivia, Raka Adji
Editor: Sri Haryati
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