The payments by bank card in Moldova are at an incipient stage in Moldova owing to the insufficient infrastructure of the electronic payment system, lack of confidence in the banking system and the habits of people, who adjust themselves with difficulty to the new technology, economist Dumitru Pantea stated for IPN.
According to the National Bank of Moldova, at the end of September 2016, the banks reported 1.46 million valid bank cards. In 2015, the same source indicated 1.29 million cards. The figure increased, but the cardholders use the cards mainly to withdraw cash. In the third quarter of last year alone, the Moldovans withdrew over 9.3 billion lei through bank cards. In the period, the payments by card came to 796 million lei.
Dumitru Pantea said the central bank’s data show that everyone holds a bank card, but it would be interesting to know how many have Internet banking so as to understand why the payments, for example for public utilities, are not made electronically.
A problem highlighted by the expert is the insufficient infrastructure of the electronic payment system. “In Chisinau, there are enough POS terminals and ATMs. In district centers, there are few of these, while in villages there is practically no such equipment. Therefore, the population has to withdraw money from the cash machine when they get to one. If we compare the number of POS terminals and ATMs per capita in the EU and in Moldova, in Moldova the number is almost the lowest,” said Dumitru Pantea.
He also said that even if the buyer does not pay commission for card transactions, this does not mean that they are free. The commission in this case is paid by the trader. The large shop chains can negotiate attractive commissions, while the small traders, especially in rural areas, will incur larger costs for each transaction.
At international level, the use of cards and electronic money was stimulated with the aim of diminishing the underground economy so that there is yet a lot of work to be done, including in our country. Dumitru Pantea noted the state can offer tax concessions to traders that accept card payments by reducing VAT. The state should identify the moment when it is opportune to introduce such stimuli.
The diminution of the black economy is the biggest advantage of card payments as these transactions are automatically recorded in the national economy, while cash transactions often go to the underground economy, concluded the expert.
It should be noted that the Law on Entrepreneurship and Enterprises in 2012 was amended and provides that the business entities with a turnover of over 2 million lei during the previous calendar year must install POS terminals and make sure that payments can be made through these. Rural businesses were exempted from such an obligation.
