Israel on the road to become world’s first cashless country

Happy new month everyone. As the Globasure team continue to do their part in pushing the cashless policy here is some interesting news from Israel that will be of great interest to you.

A special committee headed by Harel Locker, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, last week recommended the implementation of major restrictions on the use of cash.Among the recommendations are banning all cash transactions over NIS 15,000 between individuals, and NIS 7,500 between businesses or an individual and a business, with the amount falling to NIS 5,000 after an initial period; limiting the amount of money that a check can be cashed for to NIS 7,500; and “strongly encouraging” Israelis to adopt the use of debit cards for all transactions.

This move is part of a three stage plan which has been developed by the Israel government to eventually eradicate cash transactions in Israel. This move was made to counter the issue of tax evasion and money laundering. With the Israel economy growing quite steadily, the amount of tax revenue generated was dropping instead of increasing, the Israeli government believes that limiting cash transactions will open the lid of businesses that are currently operating under the radar.

Israel is not the only country that has rolled out this kind of regulation, in the US, transactions of $10,000 or more are supposed to be reported to the Treasury Department. In the EU, cash transactions are currently restricted to 15,000 euros, but new regulations would cut that to 7,500 euros. In France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and others, individuals can be stopped on the street by special currency enforcement patrols who have the power to detain individuals or close down businesses for violating currency regulations.

The benefits of a cashless society are great, the rewards to be gained from cashless regulations are in heaps and the CBN should do all it can to achieve a cashless society in our great country Nigeria.