Economist Charles Chuka has called on government and commercial banks to encourage people to use electronic transactions to boost revenue collection.

Chuka, former Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) governor said this during a public lecture at UNICAF University in Lilongwe.

He said the electronic transactions will as well stop people from evading tax.

He said most of the illegal businesses are being done using cash as they cannot be traced.

“Through electronic payments every transaction can be easily followed and monitored,” he said.

Chuka added that people should be encouraged to start using cheques and Point of Sale (POS) than the present case where one has to carry more money to pay for a service.

Speaking on the same, one of the participants Dr. John Chirwa, who is also the Executive Director for Cripto Consultancy, said the lecture was an eye opener on how Malawi can earn more revenues.

Dr. Chirwa however appealed to RBM and commercial banks to stop using politicians as scapegoats once they fail to implement this while aiming at making more profits.

The two-hour public lecture was presented under a theme: a cashless economy, is Africa and Malawi society ready for it?