Credit cards and ATMs may be handy, but Italians stick to cashing out and withdrawing a billion euros a day from ATMs. The Unimpresa study center does the math on our pockets, which shows that 360 billion euros were withdrawn from ATMs in 2023, 10 billion more than in 2022 and 18 billion more than in 2021.
According to Unimpresa, even if cash withdrawals in 2022 were 350 billion euros, in 2023 this figure rose to 360 billion euros, which is 10 billion more (+2%); if we take this into account in 2021, this increase rises to 18 billion. , the amount of withdrawals amounted to 352 billion: almost a billion euros are withdrawn from ATMs every day.
Our country ranks last in the euro area in the use of non-cash payment instruments: only 200 transactions are made per capita on average with credit cards, bank transfers and cheques. The euro area average for cash alternative payments is 370 transactions per citizen; Spain 290, Germany 329 and France 424. The Netherlands (670) and other Nordic countries such as Finland (598) and Estonia (488) perform even better.
In terms of virtual money and digital payments, last year in Italy, transactions between bank transfers (which cover 94% of this sector), bank checks and bank drafts, and loans or credit card debits reached 11 thousand billion euros. In any case, an increase that has not slowed down the plastic money used more than in the past: 426 billion euros of transactions in 2023, against 382 billion euros in 2022, i.e. 44 billion euros more in a year (+11.5%) ). And circulation is also increasing significantly: there are more than 120 million cards in circulation, including credit cards (21 million), debit cards (67 million) and prepaid cards (33 million). Here too, we are faced with an increase of over 5 million cards between 2022 and 2023 (+4.5%): in detail, there are 300,000 more credit cards (+1.4%), of which 2.7 million more are in debt (+4.2%). Prepaid cards, which parents increasingly give to their underage children to manage their weekly allowance, have increased by 2.1 million (+7.1%).
“Cash represents a tool of individual freedom that allows transactions without leaving a digital trace, thus preserving privacy and providing direct control over one’s finances. Cash is also very important for many people, especially those who have difficulty accessing or using it. It is also important to definitively refute the cash-equals-tax-evasion equation, says Giovanna Ferrara, president of Unimpresa.
Source: Today IT
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
