Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu says that no one is abolishing cash in Romania, but the restrictions were necessary to fight tax evasion, Romania being the first in Europe in this area. Cholaku says that all the propaganda of those who claim that cash will disappear is a gross lie, but he admits that the purchase of any goods or products worth more than 5,000 lei should be made with a card.

“People are kind, no one cancels cash. No one forces you to have a card,” Marcel Ciolacu said on Romanian television on Tuesday night.

When asked why the amount of payments is limited, Cholaku said: “Well, how to deal with it? Lord, am I out of my mind? Do you pay more than 5,000 lei in a shop in the commune?”

The Prime Minister explained that if there are two or three shops in the commune, each person can spend 5,000 lei in cash in each of them.

“It’s about spending in one place. Not to tell you that you can spend 5000 lei, maybe your wife spends 5000 lei in the same store. Can’t you see what a gross lie it is?”, added the prime minister.

“People will see that it does not concern them, and there will be no problems”

When asked what happens if someone wants to buy something that costs more than 5,000 lei, such as a television, the prime minister replied: “You pay with a card.”

To the remark that maybe someone does not have a card, the prime minister said: “We are talking about normal people. And how do you want me to combat evasion? At the moment, this is a limitation if you have the biggest escape in Europe. You want the Prime Minister to come and complain to you, “what am I doing?” I come with solutions,” Marcel Čolaku also stated.

He claims that the propaganda is carried out by those who fear that they can no longer evade taxes and take up the sword.

“It’s normal that they’re hurting, it’s normal that they don’t have the ability to spend money, you don’t have the ability to spend money from evasion. I think it hurts, I understand. People will see that it does not concern them, and there will be no problems. All this propaganda they are doing now will backfire on them. This is an outright lie. It will return to the heads of the AUR gentlemen like a boomerang,” Marcel Čolaku also stated.

Read also:

• Cash payments drastically reduced / Purchases in the subway can be paid in cash within 2,000 lei / Previously the ceiling was 10,000 lei
• Small merchants, about restrictions on cash payments: In rural stores, customers pay in cash. In the evening, the owner went to collect cash and carry to replenish stocks. So where and how does he put money on the card at that time?
• Why Çolaku wants to limit cash payments at the worst time for Romania / What Isarescu said about a cashless society