Romania’s underground economy currently represents 28% of the country’s GDP, compared to 8-10% of the GDP in countries where card payments are more developed, said Catalin Cretu, Visa Europe regional director for Romania, Croatia and Slovenia.

“The inverse relationships between the degree of electronic payments and the underground economy is obvious at European level,” Cretu added, cited by local Agerpres.

In Romania, the underground economy grabs almost EUR 30 billion, as Romanians still prefer paying cash, which is harder to trace.

When it comes to paying taxes by card, about 180 city halls and town halls in Romania currently accept card payments physically (at the counter) and 120 of them accept card payments directly through the online application called ghiseul.ro.  The level of tax payments by card is still very low.

If Romania could collect 30% of its taxes by card, the budget would save about RON 23 million (EUR 5.2 million), Cretu said.

editor@romania-insider.com