Bank commissions charged from small and medium-sized enterprises on card payments will be capped. Currently, they represent about 2-3% of the value of the transaction. MPs of the Party of Action and Solidarity propose that these should be reduced to 0.5%, but not more than 5 lei per transaction, IPN reports.
PAS MP Dumitru Alaiba told a news conference that cash facilitates the development of the underground economy. “Promoting non-cash transactions – payments by card where it is possible - is one of the methods for gradually whitening the economy that does not force the citizens to make sudden changes,” stated Dumitru Alaiba, who heads the Parliament’s commission on economy, budget and finance.
According to the MP, the consumer is not affected by these commissions, but the business entity pays 2-3% commission for the same sum of money paid by card. In such conditions, even the entrepreneurs that do not allow tax evasion prefer to pay in cash.
“Today we announce this initiative to cap the commissions on payments by bank cards on the territory of the territory of the Republic of Moldova for small and medium-sized enterprises to 0.5% of the total value of the transaction. So, the entrepreneurs will pay this amount or at most 5 lei if the value of the transaction is higher,” stated Dumitru Alaiba.
The MP made reference to the National Bank of Moldova’s data according to which the value of non-cash transactions in 2017-2021 grew about four times, from 8 billion lei to 32 billion lei. In the period, the commissions haven’t been adjusted, but this is extremely necessary.
