Indonesian President Joko Widodo called on the leadership of the country's regional authorities to abandon the use of Western payment systems Visa and Mastercard.
According to the Indonesian edition of The Jakarta Post, Widodo stressed, that such a measure is necessary to ensure the security of transactions from possible consequences, caused by geopolitical processes in the world, in particular from Western sanctions.
The President of Indonesia recalled the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the US leadership, as a result of which the functioning of Visa and Mastercard payment systems for consumers from Russia was limited.
The head of state noted, that the restrictive measures introduced by the US government due to the Ukrainian crisis may cause some difficulties, because payment systems are economic instruments, which can be used against countries, according to the American leadership, having anything to do with the armed conflict in Ukraine.
Earlier, a spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said, that his country is considering options for using the Russian payment system for transactions “Peace”.
Western payment systems VISA and MasterCard suspended cooperation with Russian banks at the beginning of last year due to Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, after which millions of Russian citizens were faced with the inability to use bank cards of these systems outside the country.
Indonesia – not just the most populous Muslim country in the world (total number of inhabitants – about 270 million people), but also a G20 member, as well as the largest cardholder of American payment systems in the Muslim world. Author:Maxim Svetlyshev Photos used:Pixabay
