The pandemic has seen purchasers receive digital payments in expanding numbers and the trend was quickening, said the President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde.

She additionally showed a panel of euro-zone national bank authorities is set to uncover a decision on an European national bank digital currency (CBDC) quickly.

Talking at an online conference hosted by Deutsche Bundesbank on Sept. 10, Lagarde, expressed that EU inhabitants had grasped digitalization, with e-commerce salesexpanding generally 20% between February and June, even as total retail sales declined 1.2%. She said the volume of online payments had encountered “double-digit growth rates” since the beginning of the outbreak.

“The pandemic has served as a catalyst, accelerating the transition towards a digital new normal,” Lagarde stated. “A vast majority of consumers expect to continue to use digital services as often as they do now or even more often.”

Different institutions have arrived at a similar conclusion as information comes in with respect to the economic fallout of COVID. An August report from Singapore’s DBS Bank expressed that “the ongoing pandemic has added fuel to the move toward a society with less cash dependence.”

Lagarde supports the ECB building up a CBDC to address the move towards digitalization, notwithstanding quicker and less expensive cross-border payments. Last September, when she was the top of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the ECB president said she would focus on guaranteeing EU institutions adapt to the changing financial environment by being available to crypto.

“The Eurosystem has so far not made a decision on whether to introduce a digital Euro,” Lagarde said.

As indicated by the ECB president, the consequences of a taskforce examining the possible impacts of a CBDC on Europe will be declared “in the coming weeks.”