Скопје, 18 јуни 2026 година

“Despite the good digital readiness of citizens, accepting electronic payments with retail traders is limited and poses a great challenge for the payment system in the country.” This was emphasized by the Vice Governor of the National Bank Igor Velichkovski at the opening of the workshop Closing the Merchant Acceptance Gap: A Stakeholder Forum on Findings and the Path Forward, organized in cooperation with the World Bank.

He pointed out that the country has a strong basis for digital payments, where 84% of the citizens hold a payment account, three out of four citizens who hold a payment account received or sent payments through digital channels, while the coverage on the territory of the country with Internet and mobile network is over 90%. However, more than 90% of the payments of goods and services with retail traders are still made in cash. In the country in approximately 16,700 traders there are about 36,000 terminals that accept payments, which shows that the acceptance is concentrated and unequal, especially in small businesses.

Velichkovski emphasized that the main problem is not whether citizens can pay digitally, but whether retail traders can accept that digital payment. “Retail traders still consider electronic payments expensive and complex”, he said, adding that the solution is in new, simpler acceptance models.

According to him, the specific steps that will reduce the gap are the following: introduction of instant payments by the end of the year through the TIPS clone, developed by Banca d’Italia for the Western Balkan countries according to the decision of the European Central Bank, and the accompanying services such as a national interoperable quick response code (QR) that will be used by all payment service users regardless of the payment service provider, payments through simple identifiers (aliases), instant confirmation for each transaction, the development of the so-called “Request for Payment (Services)” and additional development of mobile applications, including by non-banking providers.

He pointed out that these solutions directly concern the largest barriers to retail traders: the high costs for the devices for accepting payments, the complex processes and the insufficient flexibility of the existing systems. “With these services, accepting digital payments can become simple as receiving a message on the phone”, Velichkovski said.

The Vice Governor also emphasized the cooperation with the World Bank in the implementation of the reforms, including the accession to SEPA and the modernization of the payment infrastructure. “The goal is clear, every retail trader in the country to be able to accept digital payments without obstacles, high costs and complex systems”, Velichkovski said.