Corinne Bertani never misses an opportunity to discuss trade in front of the High Assembly. Logically, it was she who spoke on December 19, during the last public session at the National Council of the year to put on the table the importance of maintaining the Carlo application.
Launched in 2019 as a practical and quick means of payment in businesses in the Principality, the application has been supported since the pandemic by the princely government, which saw it as a way to boost the Monegasque economy.
In fact, paying with Carlo allows the customer to have a return of 5% of the price spent in their kitty. This cashback formula has made the application successful. But already during the examination of the amending budget this fall, the government had expressed its motivation to financially disengage from the application, due to its high cost. So before voting on the 2025 Prime Minister, elected officials wanted to ensure with the government that loyalty to Carlo would remain.
“Do not increase merchant fees”
“The application is a real engine for our commerce. Even if it represents a cost for the State, it still generates VAT”, estimates Corinne Bertani. “Carlo has restored the reflex of consuming in Monaco for our population and has also given a real boost to the purchases of employees coming to work in Monaco. We must keep the Carlo application even if we have to discuss a possible evolution, calmly and without haste.”
The government’s idea is to change the distribution of the 8.6% Carlo platform fees. Today, the State pays 7.6%, the remaining 1% falling to the affiliated merchant. And it is envisaged that in 2025, the charge for the merchant will increase to 3.6%. “We must keep merchants’ participation at 1% because any increase would be significantly higher than bank card fees and merchants would risk no longer joining,” worries Corinne Bertani who intends for the National Council to be involved in the negotiations, “to achieve the best possible result for traders, consumers and the state budget.”
Recalling that the exploitation of Carlo costs 10 million euros to the state budget, Mikaël Palmaro judges that “Carlo is efficient, brings in money, it’s a success. The government thinks that it doesn’t boost the economy, we think that it prevented its fall.”
And Roland Mouflard sees it: “a tool which has real relevance for our businesses. In recent years, traders have seen their competitiveness deteriorate: rents have increased, activity in the city by district has reduced, the price of parking. Carlo reports competitiveness.”
“Avoid a drift in public spending”
Arguments heard by Pierre-André Chiappori, government advisor-minister for Finance and the Economy. All the same tempering the point of view of elected officials. “You have to be careful with the figures. Knowing how much you earn in VAT is completely impossible. The question is not so much knowing what VAT is generated by purchases made with Carlo, but rather knowing what the VAT generated by purchases made with Carlo and which would not have been generated if the application did not exist, it is difficult to answer.”
However, the Minister of the Economy considers the application to be a “very nice operation” and hears that she “abide and prosper” but not at any price. “My duty is to avoid a drift in public spending. It seems to me that the right way to see this problem is to ask ourselves whether we can let Carlo develop while limiting the impact on public spending. With this in mind, we met with the traders and promoters of Carlo. The current state of thinking is that imposing the entire burden on businesses would be excessive. If we don’t touch the rate, we can touch the spending ceiling. By providing, for example, a monthly spending limit for the user via Carlo, by 1,500 euros Current simulations suggest that this would reduce the bill by 3 million euros for the State.
For the President of the Council, apothecary calculations are unnecessary. “It’s a question of will. Carlo has a more political dimension. It’s an application made in Monaco, which is sold abroad, we also have to see what that brings in terms of image. The will must be to continue, to keep an economy in the Principality.”
