In Romania, 28pct of the GDP going towards underground economy

 Romania is a country still marked by its underground economy, with 28pct of the GDP going towards this type of economy, Catalin Cretu, Subregional Manager for Romania, Croatia and Slovenia at Visa Europe stated on Thursday during a specialist conference. "If we are to choose a word to describe the trajectory of Visa in Romania, that is innovation. We have always been at the frontline of this industry. Innovation is not reduced to technology, it is also about vision. What is innovative is the manner of introducing a standard product in a niche not covered by this type of product. In Romania, we brought, for the first time, on the public agenda, topics such as the underground economy. One of the main obstacles to the consolidation of a sustainable economy. The inverse relationship between the amount of electronic payments and the underground economy is visible at a European level. In Romania, a country still affected by the underground economy, 28pct of the country's GDP goes toward the underground economy, meaning approximately 30 billion euros," Cretu stated. According to the Visa representative, currently, 180 municipalities accept the card payment physically, out of which 120 accept direct card payments via the Ghiseul.ro application. "We proposed concrete measures to the government starting from 2013; then we also started talks with the Ministry of Finance. Since 2009, we started the initiative to accept card payment in local municipalities. From 11-12 municipalities we now reached 180 municipalities that accept card payment physically, and 120 municipalities can receive money directly via Ghiseul.ro. I am glad to say that, starting with 2010, we have had talks with Mr. Bostan (editor's note: current Minister of Communications and Information Society) about how to ease this flow of money, both from citizens towards the government, and vice-versa. We have conducted studies on the underground economy, because we must understand this phenomenon. If we reach 30pct of tax collection via bank cards the budget savings could go up to approximately 23 million lei," Cretu said. Representatives of public authorities, payment processors and major companies are participating on Thursday in the conference "20 years of bank cards, 20 years of payment democratisation," which features an overview of key moments in the development of the bank card market and the impact of electronic payments on the economy.