The number of cash payments continues to decline in Belgium, but the disappearance of many ATMs in Belgium is a cause of widespread frustration.
Withdrawing cash in Belgium has become increasingly complicated. In Brussels, lower-income neighbourhoods have long been most impacted by this shortage. The ATM company Batopin aims to operate over 2,500 cash machines in 503 municipalities by the end of 2025. But it will be a challenge: there are currently just 500 active cash points and finding suitable locations is complicated by the specific requirements of ATMs.
Many are exasperated by the difficulty of withdrawing cash. Already two years ago, a large-scale survey by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) about payment behaviour brought up vehement complaints about the lack of cash machines. The survey revealed that criticism about the complication of withdrawing money is strongest in Belgium.
The latest survey, published on Thursday, finds that Belgium still tops the list of complaints. "13% of eurozone respondents felt it was difficult or very difficult to get cash; in Belgium the figure was 23%." Still, Belgium has improved four percentage points since 2022.
Behind Belgium, Spain has the second-highest number of complaints about inaccessible cash (18% of respondents) and the Netherlands was third (15%).
Cashless by choice?
The survey highlighted that the use of cash in shops has also fallen from 45% of purchases in 2022 to 39% this year.
Furthermore, one in ten shops across the country don't accept cash. By comparison this is just 5% of shops across the eurozone. "Only in Latvia and the Netherlands is it harder for those wanting to pay in cash."
This is problematic, given that 16% of the Belgian population (almost 2 million people) does not use online banking, according to an earlier report by the non-profit organisation Financité. Among people aged 75 to 89 this rises to 54%.
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This is reflected in the survey on payment behaviours. "As might be expected, younger consumers (under 40) use cash much less than older consumers (plus 65)," NBB experts said.
In more than half (53%) of physical shop purchases in the country, people paid by card. Belgium also lags behind other countries for the use of payments made with an app: this method accounted for just 3% of cases in the country, compared to the eurozone average of 6%.
