"Albania, 26 electronic payments per capita per year" - Bregu: Obliging businesses to be equipped with POS should also be accompanied by tax incentives
An Albanian makes an average of 26 non-cash payments through his account during a year. This was stated by the Director of Payment Systems, Accounting and Finance at the Bank of Albania, Ledia Bregu, in a joint meeting with INNVEST and the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, where, among other things, she emphasized that there are many accounts that are used only for social benefits and then closed.
"From 2018, which was about 4.3 cashless payments per account, we currently have over 26 cashless payments per capita, so one account, one individual makes at least an average of 26 electronic payments in a year. It is still very low compared to Europe, which should be somewhere over 50, 80, it depends, it is still very low, but it is a pretty big leap forward from recent years," said Bregu.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Economy, Enkelejd Musabelliu, said that the initiative that obliges businesses in hospitality, tourism, and transportation to be equipped with a POS terminal should be accompanied by a reduction in the costs of digital payments.
"We are definitely being visited by many citizens from many different countries, who of course have different local currencies, have income in different currencies, and consequently it is very important for them to have some payment facilitation. If we want this initiative to succeed, it is very important that the costs of digital payments are lower than cash payments," he said.
The Bank of Albania intervenes with an interchange fee to cover part of the cost of electronic payments for the merchant, but the obligation to be equipped with a POS terminal should also be accompanied by tax or fee relief. These reliefs initially bring costs to the budget, but which later translate into benefits due to formalization. This means that there will be more formalized SMEs that will make more electronic payments and pay more taxes to the budget.
"In the cashless strategy, you will not find tax or fee incentives, which could be very good. There are studies that show that in practice, reducing the shadow economy is very beneficial, it can be very effective for those merchants who make part of the volume of monthly payments with electronic payments ," stressed Ledia Bregu.
To offer the market more alternatives and foster competition, the Bank of Albania is also working on implementing an instant payment system, where payments in stores can be made by scanning a QR code with a phone.
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