[Economic Observation] How big is the application space of the digital renminbi?

  Recently, the scope of the digital renminbi pilot has been expanded. On the basis of the existing pilot areas, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou in Guangdong, Fuzhou and Xiamen in Fujian, and 6 cities in Zhejiang that host the Asian Games have been added as pilot areas. Beijing City and Zhangjiakou City in Hebei Province will be converted into pilot areas after the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics scenarios are completed.

  While the scope of the digital renminbi pilot is expanding, the application scenarios of the digital renminbi are further increasing, and the coverage is also further broadening.

On April 16, the digital renminbi payment method was successfully applied in all scenarios of Fujian Expressway.

On the same day, Chongqing Liangjiang New District realized digital renminbi payment for automobile consumption scenarios, which is a breakthrough in the application of digital renminbi pilot scenarios in Chongqing.

  After the official debut of a new batch of pilot cities, Meituan announced the issuance of digital RMB livelihood consumption subsidies for pilot cities, covering more than 200 types of consumption scenarios such as residents' "clothing, food, housing and transportation".

Meituan revealed that in the 10 days after the expansion of the digital renminbi pilot scope, the digital renminbi activities in the new pilot cities have driven more than 400 million people’s livelihood consumption, and about 90% of the digital renminbi consumption subsidies have flowed to in-store dining or takeaway orders. , grocery shopping, taxis, cycling, watching movies and other small high-frequency consumption scenarios such as "food, clothing, housing and transportation".

  It can be seen from the above-mentioned digital renminbi’s scenario application and dazzling data that the new round of digital renminbi pilots is accelerating its integration into people’s lives, and is playing an active role in promoting consumption recovery and helping the real economy.

  However, some people said that the use of digital renminbi is no different from third-party payment in experience. Third-party payment is already very convenient, so why use digital renminbi?

In fact, as the legal currency of the country, the digital renminbi has advantages. First, it is more economical. The payment and withdrawal of the digital renminbi are all 0 handling fees, which reduces the cost of cash payment and withdrawal.

Second, it is more secure. The digital renminbi follows the principle of "anonymity in small amounts, traceability in large amounts in accordance with the law", which is conducive to protecting personal privacy and user information security.

Third, it is more inclusive, and the public without bank accounts can enjoy basic financial services through digital RMB wallets.

In addition, the offline payment of digital renminbi is similar to banknotes, which can meet the use in areas that are not covered by the network and in specific places.

  On a deeper level, as Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China said: "The research and development of digital renminbi is the need to help the development of the digital economy." He believes that at present, technological innovation represented by the digital economy has become an important driver of development momentum To achieve high-quality economic and social development, a more secure, universal, and inclusive new retail payment infrastructure is objectively needed as a public product, to further meet the diverse payment needs of the people, and to improve the level of basic financial services and services. Efficiency provides strong support for building a new development pattern.

  Experts pointed out that as a "new infrastructure" in the digital economy era, the digital renminbi is a booster for accelerating digital development and building a digital China.

When the security, convenience and low cost of digital renminbi are gradually demonstrated, it will further promote the promotion and application of digital renminbi, and will also allow more people to get the dividends brought by the development of digital economy from digital renminbi.

  Liu Xiaolei, a professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, pointed out that in the future, the use of digital renminbi will have huge potential for enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to solve the problems of expensive and difficult financing.

She believes that corporate users can accumulate a lot of "digital footprints" through the use of digital renminbi. The company's flow and income can be recorded under the digital renminbi account, and these records can be used as support for corporate credit reporting.

In addition, the "digital footprint" generated by the digital renminbi is also expected to help the precise implementation of macro policies.

  Yang Zhaokui