How card payments could help Greece reduce debt

Athens From shopping in the supermarket to a new fridge or television to a piece of property – for a long time people in Greece often bought all of this in cash. In the meantime, however, cashless payments are spreading. More and more often, people pull out their bank cards themselves to make purchases at the periptera, the traditional kiosks. The Greek Ministry of Finance is pleased about that. Because while cash payments often bypass the books, cashless transactions are easier for the tax authorities to record.

The state owes increasing tax revenues to the trend towards cashless payments. Greece can thus reduce its debt faster than expected. Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hopes progress on fiscal consolidation will give him momentum ahead of the May 21 parliamentary elections.