Minister Ibrahimaj Emphasizes Cash Reduction and Digital Payments for Albania’s Economic Future

Delina Ibrahimaj, Minister of Economy and Innovation, declared at the “Connect Albania – The Future is Digital” Forum that one of the country’s top priorities for economic transformation is to reduce the usage of physical cash and expand digital payments. She noted that although Albania has made significant progress in digitizing public services, this development will not have a meaningful economic impact unless electronic payments are widely accepted.
Albania is currently ranked ninth in the European Union and among the top 20 countries worldwide for public sector digitalization, with 98% of services available online. According to Ibrahimaj, the next challenge is aligning this level of digitalization with the way financial transactions are conducted in the country.
The Minister indicated that a comprehensive plan of actions to support digital payments is now complete and will soon be discussed with the banking sector, public institutions, and other actors in the payment ecosystem. The plan includes a measure in the fiscal package presented to Parliament today that requires every merchant to have at least one point-of-sale (POS) device, with deployment occurring in phases until 2026.
“This is one of the first steps toward achieving our ‘Cashless Albania 2030’ goal. It will help reduce informality, improve economic performance, and foster innovation,” the minister said. She thanked Mastercard for its assistance in implementing the point-of-sale (POS) program and developing the plan of action for the coming years. She also thanked the Bank of Albania for its critical contribution to developing digital payments and electronic banking.