Increasing the use of digital payments could provide Colombo with US$ 200 million in annual net benefits, an independent study conducted by Roubini ThoughtLab and commissioned by Visa reveals.

Head of Risk – Asia-Pacific of Visa Joe Cunningham encouraged Sri Lankans to move towards a cashless economy, stating that it could derive significant benefits. The impact of such a move for Colombo over the next 15 years is estimated to include a 20.4 basis point increase in GDP growth and 2.1 percent increase in employment.

Cunningham also stated that creating a secure payment ecosystem would be critical to Sri Lanka’s e-commerce market. He noted that there was a need to ensure security mechanisms through policies by relying on global standards – and on the technical front, with technologies such as chips and PINs, and ‘tokenisation.’