Penang Officially A Cashless State, Exceeds 95% Cashless Transactions In 2024

Personal Finance
12 Jul 2024 • 4:17 PM MYT
RinggitPlus
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(Image: Malay Mail/Hari Anggara)

Penang has officially been recognised as a cashless state, having achieved a cashless transaction rate exceeding 95% between January and May 2024 – the only state to consistently exceed 95% during this period.

This is four years after kickstarting the state’s cashless payment initiative in 2020. It started with a pilot project at the Taman Tun Sardon market in April 2020, and followed by the state government’s request to enable cashless payments at all 56 public markets as well as a push for all state department and agencies to enable cashless payments – all within 2020 alone. These initiatives were also supported by 17 financial institutions and e-payment providers including Hong Leong Bank and TNG eWallet.

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(Image: Free Malaysia Today)

According to Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, between 1 January and 31 May 2024, state departments and agencies alone completed a total of 5,490,371 cashless transactions amounting to RM516,062,766.73, which accounted for 65.07% of the state’s overall revenue collected. By 2030, he expects the figure to hit 97%.

(Source: Malay Mail)