...

Reasons for insignificant volume of non-cash payments in Azerbaijan named

Economy Materials 5 August 2021 11:33 (UTC +04:00)
Reasons for insignificant volume of non-cash payments in Azerbaijan named

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug.5

By Chingiz Safarli - Trend:

The volume of non-cash payments carried out in the country is not that great despite the increase in the number of bank cards in Azerbaijan, MP, economic expert Vugar Bayramov told Trend.

According to Bayramov, six million out of 10 million payment cards in Azerbaijan account for salary cards.

"This means that more than 60 percent of payment cards in circulation today are issued directly by the public or private sector to pay salaries. Usually, funds on these cards aren’t stored for a long time. In particular, these funds are cashed out faster," he said.

The MP also said that out of the total number of payment cards, only one million, or about 12 percent, are credit cards.

Besides, according to the expert, for a wider use of credit cards, their holders must be sure that they will be able to comfortably make purchases at various retail outlets throughout the country.

“However, the reality is that not only in the districts, but also in Baku there are catering, trade and service facilities which don’t accept such cards due to non-working POS terminals or other reasons. This reduces the interest of citizens in such payment cards,” he noted.

Bayramov proposed to amend the legislation and fine entrepreneurs who don’t have POS terminals or refuse to provide them to pay for services rendered to consumers.

"In this case, it’s advisable to introduce fines. Then entrepreneurs will use POS-terminals, and citizens will use their payment cards. As a result, the growth of non-cash payments will affect the state budget revenues. This will help to increase tax revenues and legalize the shadow economy as a whole. Work on improvement of legislation in this area should be continued,” concluded the expert.

Tags:
Latest

Latest