Online payments double amid pandemic: CPD study

Online payments in the country have doubled amid the coronavirus pandemic, due mainly to the e-commerce sector boom.

It increased to Tk 4,000 crore in 2020 from Tk 1,978 crore in 2019, reveals a Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) study.

The local think tank came up with the study report in a webinar on the digital platform economy in Bangladesh.

“Online payments in Bangladesh have increased to Tk 1,978 crore in 2019 from from Tk 168 core in 2016. In 2020, the online payments are about to reach Tk 4,000 crore,” said the study report presented by Syed Yusuf Saadat, CPD senior researcher, in the event.

“The formation of the Bangladesh Electronic Fund Transfer mechanism has further enabled various institutions to offer payment services to the unbanked segments of the population,” Saadat said.

Besides, Bangladesh became the second-largest source of online labour in the world, he added.

The study shows only 5.6 percent of households in Bangladesh have computers, and only 37.6 percent had access to the internet in 2019.

However, uses of computers and the internet were found to be more common in relatively wealthier households and among men, compared to relatively poorer families and women.

Currently, there are 2,000 website-based entrepreneurs, the report said, and up to 50,000 Facebook-based entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also expanded employment opportunities in the e-commerce industry. Moreover, around 500,000 jobs are likely to be created through digital platforms in the next year.

However, the digital entrepreneurs could not create confidence among the customers, said Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the CPD.

The digital entrepreneurs should be brought under the tax net, and they should be offered incentives, she added.