, to be done digitally by 2023. with the pandemic, i am optimistic that this goal will be met even sooner. of course, this is consistent with my other vision of shifting from a cash - heavy to a cash - lite economy. indeed, the speed and breadth of digitalization are gaining momentum. and we want to push harder. on september 8, 2020, the bsp, together with the trust officers association of the philippines, launched digital pera, which stands for personal equity retirement account. digital pera utilizes a digital platform where investors can open, access, and invest 24 / 7 through their pera account anywhere in the world using their mobile gadgets. this breakthrough project is in addition to an array of digital - enabled investment outlets such as the unit investment trust funds and mutual funds, which are now available for retail clients. the bsp is also implementing a digital literacy program. this initiative is part of the bsp ’ s financial education advocacy, which aims to increase public trust and confidence in the digital finance ecosystem and encourage massive usage of digital financial services by consumers across all sectors. as we now steer the philippine economy back to its previous position, the entire government and the bsp are exerting enormous efforts to not only restore the economy and help the filipino people survive this crisis but for the philippines to be even better, stronger, more inclusive, 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches technologically prepared, and more competitive than before the pandemic. the bsp ’ s digital payments transformation roadmap for 2020 to 2023 sets out our initiatives and strategies for achieving an efficient, safe and inclusive payments ecosystem. it has two key strategic objectives. first, it aims to strengthen customers ’ preference for digital payments by converting 50 percent of the total volume of retail payments into digital form. in addition, it aims to expand the proportion of financially included to 70 percent of filipino adults. to help us assess how well our policy interventions contribute to the transformation into digital payments, the better than cash alliance or btca is helping us build a simulated model which will estimate the potential change in the level of e - payments volume and value driven by policies initiated by the bsp. the second objective is to encourage innovations which will boost real - time payments velocity. in particular, we intend to make available more innovative digital financial products and services. these services will be enabled by the national id system. it will also be supported by the availability of modern payment services that

##y transactions is equivalent to about 2. 6 percent of gdp. from january to april 2020, new online sign - ups and app downloads for digital financial services increased by 100 percent, year - on - year. with filipinos more mindful about their health and safety amid the lockdown, there was also a significant decline in the value, o yung halaga, and volume of, o yung dami ng, check payments and atm withdrawals between the first half of march 2020 and from the second half of march to may 2020. likewise, coin demand in 2020 fell by 57 percent in volume and 60 percent in value compared to 2019. more accessible and more convenient e - payment options may have partly contributed to the decline, aside from softer economic activities during the said period. the expanded role of digital payments in 2020 is worthy of note. while it kept the economic gears running during the community quarantines, it was also instrumental in distributing welfare benefits from the social security system ’ s small business wage subsidy ( sbws ) program. under the sbw s program, the sss, the department of finance, and the bureau of internal revenue worked, hand in hand, to provide a wage subsidy for affected employees of small businesses. government agencies partnered with the development bank of the philippines and leveraged on technology via pesonet for beneficiaries with bank accounts and through 2, 500 partner outlets nationwide for beneficiaries who had no bank accounts. this resulted in the effective and efficient implementation of the program — from application to processing to the distribution of wage subsidies direct to more than three million beneficiaries. the covid - 19 pandemic has indeed unexpectedly catalyzed the rapid acceleration of digital 3 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches transformation. the bsp took this opportunity to advance initiatives to push digitalization in the financial industry further. to chart the bsp ’ s current initiatives and strategies in advancing an efficient, inclusive, safe, and secure digital payments ecosystem, we launched the digital payments transformation roadmap last year. the roadmap identifies two critical strategic objectives. the first objective, also my personal goal as bsp governor — is that at least 50 percent of the country ’ s total financial transactions be done digitally, and at least 70 percent of filipino adults have financial accounts. the second objective involves the availability of more innovative digital financial products and services. these products and services, designed to be responsive to consumers ’ needs, will be enabled