If coins and notes continue to fill the wallets of Belgians, their use is gradually losing ground compared to other methods of payment. However, the applications are not taking off, according to a report from the European Central Bank on Thursday.
The ECB and the 20 central banks of the euro zone examine payment habits within the monetary zone every two years. Cash remains the preferred method in physical points of sale, shows the new analysis: 52% of transactions are carried out in hard currency.
Cash is running out of steam
However, their use is gradually losing steam. In 2022, this number still stood at 59%, while in 2019 – before the coronavirus pandemic – 72% of Europeans still paid for their in-store purchases in cash. On the Flat country side, cash payments are following this downward trend, going from 45% in 2022 to 39% this year. However, Belgians are not big fans of applications: only 3% of purchases were honored digitally.
This is significantly less than the European average (6%). Six out of ten Belgians are concerned about the protection of their private data in digital transactions, a proportion in line with the European average. The bank card thus remains the undisputed queen in Belgium, since it is used for more than one in two payments.
55 euros on average
Unsurprisingly, the habits of young people differ from those of their elders. Those over 64 prefer paper and the jingle of change (57% of purchases), while those aged 18-24 more rarely (45%) search their pockets for cash. On average, Belgians fill their wallets with 55 euros in cash at the start of the day, compared to 59 euros on average in the euro zone.
Local
Belgium
