Abstract The payment and clearing system can objectively record the operation of funds for social and economic activities, and the use of payment and clearing data can be made to monitor regional economic changes sensitively. Employing panel data of cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province from 2010 to 2021, this article employs econometric analysis to examine the link between payment and clearing data and the regional economy. The paper’s focus includes the payment and clearing system and economic indicators. The increase in the total amount of payment and clearing data has a significant positive correlation with digital economic development. Only by regression between the total amount of payment and clearing and regional gross domestic product (GDP), it can be found that every 1% increase in payment and clearing can increase regional GDP by 0.476%. After controlling factors such as important production factors, openness, and government intervention, the elasticity coefficient is still 0.1%, and the correlation is significant. Therefore, the amount of payment and liquidation is a valuable predictor of regional economic development. And thus providing Intelligent decision-making references for the policy formulation and strategic planning of governmental departments and regulatory agencies.