"The cross-border QRIS is now available in Thailand, Malaysia, and next, Singapore. We will continue expanding (the service) to facilitate more," BI Deputy Governor Doni Prumanto Joewono informed in Magelang, Central Java, on Friday.
At the 2023 Angkringan Digital event at Borobudur Temple Complex, he said that the cross-border QRIS allows users to conveniently pay for transactions using a QR code while traveling abroad.
"When we go to Thailand, we just need to bring our smartphone and charger because we have enabled cross-border (QRIS) in Thailand," Joewono added.
He said that the central bank is aiming to expand QRIS coverage to more countries to reduce the need to exchange currency while traveling abroad.
"Imagine when I am performing Umrah (in Saudi Arabia) later, I no longer need riyal (banknotes) as I would only scan the QRIS (to pay)," he emphasized.
However, challenges to cross-border QRIS implementation still linger, he said, adding that one of them is the small number of merchants overseas who accept QRIS payments.
"While (the number of) merchants (who accept QRIS payments) in Indonesia is already at 26 million, the merchants overseas are just in the hundreds," the central bank official noted.
Meanwhile, head of the BI's Central Java Representative Office, Rahmat Dwisaputra, said that his side is continuing to push for the digitization of the tourism sector in Central Java by encouraging more QRIS users and improving transaction volume.
He informed that 2.61 million merchants in the province, of whom 98 percent are micro, small, and medium enterprise players, have implemented the QRIS payment system.
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Translator: Zuhdiar Laeis, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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