As the Central Bank of The Bahamas (CBOB), Ministry of Finance and clearing banks push to achieve a 50 percent reduction in the use of cash and an 80 percent reduction in the use of checks by 2025, a new survey revealed that more businesses have embraced digital payments in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The business digital payments survey, commissioned by the CBOB in the last quarter of last year, found that both the acceptance and use of electronic payments increased in The Bahamas during 2020.

In fact, fewer than 30 percent of Bahamian businesses still conduct important transactions using cash, with more opting to use checks for payment.

“Credit card usage for local payments (utilities and other suppliers) was slightly above the rate at which payments were made for similar transactions with checks, but still less than one fourth of the respective transactions. Credit cards offered notably higher convenience for international payments and travel (more than 1/3 of transactions),” the survey found.

“Most predominantly however, was the reliance on electronic banking to complete more than half of salary payments and in the range of half of utility payments. Indications are that about 40-50 percent of payments for both local and international suppliers of goods and services were completed via electronic banking channels.”

More businesses have also embraced the importance of having a digital presence, with about 79 percent of those surveyed indicating that they primarily use social networks for some form of marketing.

“Facebook was the most widely used platform (69.9 percent), followed by WhatsApp (59.5 percent) and Instagram (49 percent),” the Central Bank stated.

“Moreover, about 60 percent of firms were present on at least two platforms.”

As for consumers, cash remained the most commonly used payments instrument.

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