Perak: The third phase of the Cashless Society Scaling Up Programme will expand to Perak, Terengganu, and Perlis, said Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). The commission stated that the programme’s third phase will commence in the middle of next month, with a series of activities planned across the three states.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, MCMC announced that several activities would take place at 27 National Information Dissemination Centres (NADI) in Perak before progressing to Terengganu in the second quarter and Perlis in the third quarter of this year. The Phase Three initiative targets 56 locations, aiming to serve approximately 25,000 visitors, facilitate over 12,000 cashless transactions, and register over 2,000 new digital merchants, as stated by MCMC during the programme launch today.

The Cashless Society Scaling Up Programme, launched in 2022, is a five-year nationwide initiative. MCMC reported that Phases One and Two have already been implemented in four states: Melaka, Johor, Pahang, and Negeri Sembilan. To date, the programme has attracted over 44,000 visitors, facilitated over 18,000 cashless transactions, registered over 4,200 new digital merchants, and conducted nearly 550 awareness activities at NADI.

The Cashless Society Scaling Up Programme is supported by state governments, FELDA, and key strategic partners, including Bank Negara Malaysia, Credit Counseling and Debt Management Agency, and Maybank. The initiative also welcomes new strategic partners like BoostBank, GXBank, AEON Bank, AFFIN Bank, BerryPay, and Fiuu. The programme aims to empower rural communities and underserved groups, particularly senior citizens, youth, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and merchants, to adopt digital payments and transactions.