17 September 2019 – The number of bank cards in circulation in our country is increasing and exceeding 1.9 million units. Most of them, 76 percent, are salary and social cards. Moldovans still prefer to withdraw money from the card and use cash.

About 85% of card transactions are made at the ATM. Last year, every resident of the Republic of Moldova made, on average, at least ten cashless payments, that is, using a bank card. In total, about 44 percent of the population has at least one bank account.

Experts in the field say that the low rate of electronic payments is due to the small number of POS terminals. Currently, there are seven POS terminals per thousand inhabitants, while the European average is 24.

At a meeting of the Economic Council, the economic agents came up with proposals to boost the market.These include the initiative to introduce tax incentives that would increase the share of electronic payments, regulate commissions, stimulate the development of innovative electronic payment methods, including the launch of mPOS, i.e. mobile point of sale.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is  supported  by  the  European  Bank  for  Reconstruction  and  Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the World Bank Group project “Investment Climate Reform”, funded by the Sweden.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.