Bangladesh Bank has stepped up efforts to build a cashless economy by reducing the use of cash. As part of this, campaigns and public awareness activities are being run at field level to spread Bangla QR, the universal digital payment method, across the country, Bangladesh Bank governor Mostaqur Rahman has said.
The governor made purchases using Bangla QR in Motijheel in the capital on Monday (5 October) morning. He spoke to local traders and encouraged them to use the service.
He said transactions through Bangla QR were already growing fast. If the trend continues, cashless transactions will spread widely across the country within the next year.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, Bangla QR is now in use at about 40 lakh businesses in the country. Transactions through it have grown about three and a half times in the past three months, and an average of about Tk 143 crore now changes hands through Bangla QR every day.
During the campaign in Motijheel, the governor said that to make digital transactions popular, awareness was being raised among ordinary people and traders, in addition to the technology being rolled out. The activities will be stepped up further, he said, which will reduce dependence on cash and quickly widen the reach of digital transactions.
IFIC Bank managing director Syed Mansur Mustafa said Bangla QR was becoming more popular by the day and that cashless transactions could be expected to spread across the country within the next year. Transactions through Bangla QR have been completely free since 1 October, and Bangladesh Bank is giving incentives to banks and mobile financial service providers to increase digital transactions.
He said records of digital transactions would also help traders obtain loans in future. Besides reducing dependence on cash, Bangla QR will make digital payment for shopping easier and safer, he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report