Over 10 years, about 2.4 million Moldovan citizens and 64 thousand economic agents have at least once used the MPay state electronic payment service.
Such data were presented at the event organized by the Public Services Agency, dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the MPay launch. During the opening of the event, Olga Tumuruc, Head of the e-Governance Agency, noted that the first payment through MPay took place on September 13, 2013 when a fee of 30 lei was paid for a criminal record certificate; the first million transactions through MPay were registered a year later, 10 million lei - in 2018, and in 2020 this figure exceeded 10 billion lei. Today, more than 37 million transactions worth 22.5 billion lei are registered in MPay. Olga Tumuruc said that these data speak eloquently about the convenience of this public service for citizens and economic agents: MPay has simplified payments, eliminating the need to physically visit the cash offices of state institutions; the automation of all processes has increased administrative efficiency and reduced bureaucracy; the service enjoys the trust of citizens and businesses. MPay manager Ludmila Bejenaru presented the main stages and data on the development of the platform. "It all started in 2010, when the idea to create a payment tool for paying taxes, fees, fines and other public services emerged. 10 years ago, at the time of launch, the project included only 4 payment services, with 3 public service providers and 4 payment service providers registered. After 10 years, 230 private and public service providers and 19 payment service providers are connected to MPAy, 1.5 thousand services are available for payment via MPay," said Ludmila Bejenaru, emphasizing that this public service is continuously developing. In 2021, for the first time, the service of distributing payments from the state budget to citizens was launched, and in 3 years, 77.5 million lei were distributed. Today 1.1 million citizens receive social payments through MPay every month. In 2022, at the initiative of a group of MPs, the national program "Cultural Voucher" was launched - its beneficiaries are about 56 thousand young people who are 18 years old or older. They can use the voucher worth 1,000 lei to buy books, theater tickets or concerts. According to Ludmila Bejenaru, when the program was launched, only 67 young people had an electronic identity, but now their number has grown to 2,500. In January 2023, the list of institutions that distribute payments through MPay was expanded - the Entrepreneurship Development Organization (over 37 million lei distributed) and the National Employment Agency (53 million lei) joined the list. During the Covid-19 pandemic, donations started to be transferred through MPAy - their amount reached 0.2 million lei, and in 2022 - aid for Ukrainian citizens - 4.2 million lei. According to the Public Services Agency, the most demanded services on MPay platform are payment for "vignette" (34% of all transactions), payment for kindergartens (19%), state services (9%), fines (8%), real estate tax (8%), payment for the service of issuing a certificate of non-criminal status (6%), etc. The smallest single transaction through the MPay state electronic payment service for 10 years amounted to 10 bani (repayment of tax liability), and the largest - more than 3 million lei (payment of income tax). The Public Services Agency continues to develop and expand the possibilities of MPay. In the future it will be possible to pay for public services through POS-terminals, EVO mobile application will be realized for access to electronic services of the state, etc. Let us remind that, MPay service was launched as part of the project "Modernization of Public Services", implemented by the government with the support of the World Bank Group. // 19.09.2023 - InfoMarket.
