Banking

Digital payments hit 64.7% of retail transactions in 2025

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that digital payments reached 64.7% of retail transactions in 2025, surpassing the national target. Merchant payments drove growth, with QR Ph transactions exceeding card volumes for the first time. The day's coverage also included inflation forecasts, remittance slowdowns, and banking sector developments.

By the MMI Banking Desk

Digital payments accounted for 64.7% of all retail transactions in the Philippines in 2025, up from 57.4% in 2024, according to the [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)](https://media-meter.com/report-library/apple-pay-debuts-in-ph-bsp-rate-hike-expected "Apple pay debuts in ph bsp rate hike expected"), the country's central bank. The figure, released Tuesday in the BSP's 2025 Report on E-Payments Measurement, puts the country within the 60% to 70% target range set under the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, the government's medium-term blueprint for economic growth and poverty reduction. The report also showed a 69.4% increase in [digital payment accounts](https://media-meter.com/report-library/ph-digital-payments-hit-647-target-inflation-risks-loom "Ph digital payments hit 647 target inflation risks loom") and a 36.3% rise in businesses accepting [digital payments](https://media-meter.com/report-library/school-shooting-vp-trial-digital-payments-lead-aug-18-news "School shooting vp trial digital payments lead aug 18 news"). For the first time, QR Ph transactions—payments made by scanning a standardized quick-response code—surpassed debit and credit card transactions, reaching 2.47 billion transactions worth ₱1.16 trillion. Merchant payments, or person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions, accounted for 74.31% of total digital retail payments, with volume jumping 33.22% to 2.93 billion in 2025 from 2.2 billion the previous year. However, the value of these merchant payments plunged 54.24% year on year to $13.2 billion (₱815.4 billion) from $28.8 billion (₱1.8 trillion), a decline the BSP attributed to a shift toward smaller, more frequent everyday purchases. The central bank's report drew coverage across online news outlets, including BusinessWorld Online and regional broadcaster Tuguegarao Bomboradyo, with the latter's item carrying an estimated advertising-equivalent value of ₱72,500—the notional cost of buying the same space as paid advertising. The day's broader financial conversation also touched on inflation, remittances, and banking strategy, with the BSP's digital payments milestone standing as the clearest positive signal in an otherwise cautious economic outlook.

Counter-narrative — The inflation and remittance stories formed a counterweight to the digital payments optimism. The CPBRD's projection that inflation will remain above 6% through 2026, combined with Maybank's forecast of slowest remittance growth since the pandemic, painted a picture of an economy facing persistent cost pressures and a slowdown in a key income source for millions of Filipino families. These stories ran across BusinessWorld Online, Head Topics Online, and the Business Mirror, with the remittance coverage drawing particular attention for its implications for household consumption.

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