The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has announced plans to build easier electronic payment systems to encourage the public to use debit cards in place of cash to pay for goods and services.
The central bank said Tuesday that 40.93 debit cards were in circulation as of January, but spending averaged only 209 baht per card per month. In practice, this means only one per cent of consumers are using debit cards for purchases.
"The Bank of Thailand is coordinating with the Revenue Department to determine if tax reductions might motivate business owners and debit card holders to use debit cards to pay for goods and services," said BoT Deputy Governor Thongurai Limpiti.
She said the tax department also is studying measures on how to encourage more use of debit cards, as well as the impact such a switch would affect the central bank if consumers switch from cash to plastic.
Mrs Thongurai said that the bank also plans to improve "local switching" - a system for clearing and settling domestic payment transactions via local debit card.
Such a system will be more efficient and cost less than than the current system employed by Visa and Mastercard, which taps into the global network even for local transactions. The BoT will start enforcing local switching by September, she said.
The bank will also promote the integration of ATM systems among Asean countries so that people in the region can make balance inquiries and withdraw in all of these countries.
So far Thailand has linked with Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam, and is working on connecting with the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore. Full integration will take about two years, the central bank estimated.