Three quarters of Germans avoid cash payments during COVID-19 crisis

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BERLIN, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Around 75 percent of people in Germany tried to avoid payments with cash "as much as possible" during the coronavirus crisis, according to a survey published by the digital association Bitkom on Friday.

Almost as many Germans, or 71 percent, would like more options for contactless payments, showed the survey sampled on more than 1,000 people aged 16 and over.

"There is hardly any other behavior pattern that has been changed by the coronavirus to the same extent as paying at the checkout," said Bitkom President Achim Berg. Contactless payment by card or smartphone was "not only hygienic, but also fast and secure."

The wish for more contactless payment options could be "observed across all generations," Bitkom noted. More than three in four younger Germans wanted better cashless payment options, while 62 percent of senior Germans aged over 65 would like to see an improvement.

Burkhard Balz, a member of the executive board of Deutsche Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, told the German editorial network (RND) in early May, that around 43 percent of Germans had changed their payment behavior at the checkout in recent weeks.

Of those German citizens who had changed their payment method, 68 percent had switched to more frequently using contactless payment by card, according to an online survey by Bundesbank. Enditem

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