Romanians paid by card for a shopping spree worth some EUR 2.4 billion in the first six months of this year, a growth of 22 percent on the same period last year, according to data from the country's Central Bank.

One fifth of the payments were made at stores located abroad. The volume of payments abroad by cards issued by Romanian banks was up 19 percent in the first six months of the year.

Meanwhile, Romanians withdrew EUR 11.7 billion from ATMs, an increase of 10 percent. The majority of withdrawals happened at local ATMs.

editor@romania-insider.com