E-shopping limits look set to ease
The capital controls on the use of credit and debit cards abroad or for online purchases are gradually being lifted and will soon allow for purchases through eBay and PayPal to resume.
The Finance Ministry is likely to issue a new decision further easing the controls imposed in late June which have stifled international transactions.
Two limits apply for card use at present. The first concerns the monthly limit every card has for purchases, so, for example, if a card has a limit of 2,000 euros per month and the user has already spent 1,000 euros, he will only be allowed to pay up to another 1,000 abroad or via the Internet. The second concerns the daily international transaction limits of the banks themselves, meaning that if a cardholder’s payment is rejected on any given day it may well be accepted the next morning, when banks will not have reached their daily limit.
There is no intention as yet to raise to the daily ceiling on cash withdrawals from the current 60 euros or the weekly 420 euros, either through the use of cards or at bank branches.
