Starting from June this year, tourism businesses are required to set up the necessary infrastructure that allows customers to pay by card. Minister of Economy, Delina Ibrahimaj, said that these businesses must install POS devices in their premises, so that customers can also pay electronically.
According to Ibrahimaj, this measure is being taken to ease the burden on tourists, who have expressed many complaints about this issue.
"We have set two deadlines, the first of which is in June of this year, which relates to and makes mandatory the use of POS in sectors related to tourism. We have done this driven by the need that tourists have to pay with electronic payment methods and in stores that may be small and that do not yet have these means, and also for the entire public administration, the deadline is until June."
Meanwhile, Ibrahimaj added, the rest of the economy has a one-year deadline to equip itself with these electronic payment instruments.
"Since last year, we have started a project with Master Card, which aimed precisely at this, to support Albanian businesses in order to equip them with electronic payment methods, it is a project that is ongoing. Meanwhile, we are also discussing with Visa and all the banks that operate in the country in order to guarantee the implementation of the law with the lowest possible costs for merchants, since ultimately the whole goal is to reduce costs, use electronic payments and encourage their use as soon as possible", Ibrahimaj underlined.
According to her, the costs are currently borne by the business.
"We aim not only to have a reduced cost and to use innovative methods in order to keep the initial investment cost as low as possible and to reduce transaction costs, and the plan of measures foresees an initiative by the Bank of Albania, which will change transaction costs in order to have a lower cost for small value or cash payments and to encourage merchants to use them as much as possible," said Ibrahimaj.
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