President Claudia Sheinbaum announced this week that Mexico plans to make digital payments mandatory at gas stations and highway toll booths — a sweeping shift that would affect millions of drivers nationwide and mark one of the country’s boldest moves yet away from a cash-based economy.
Sheinbaum made the announcement during the opening of the 89th Banking Convention on Thursday, saying her administration is working with the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) and private banks to design the new payment framework. She said the goal is to have it in place sometime this year, though no specific date was given.
“Our objective is that this year, through the schemes we work out with the banking sector, we make payment for gasoline and highway tolls mandatory through digital means,” Sheinbaum said. “This will allow us to advance in the digitalization of the country.”
The tools being promoted include CoDi, Banxico’s QR-code-based digital payment platform, DiMo — its newer phone-number-based transfer system — as well as debit and credit cards and mobile payment apps.
To sweeten the deal for consumers, the president of the Mexican Banking Association (ABM), Emilio Romano Mussali, said banks would temporarily waive interchange fees on card transactions at gas stations. That’s the commission charged to merchants — and sometimes passed on to customers — each time a card is used. Romano Mussali said the savings should flow to drivers, but added that would require buy-in from the gas station sector.
“We will request the commitment of the gas station sector to adopt CoDi as an immediate payment method,” he said.
The announcement comes as Mexico wrestles with what analysts are calling the country’s worst huachicol fiscal crisis in years — a sophisticated fuel-theft scheme in which organized crime imports fuel through fraudulent paperwork to dodge the federal excise tax, known as the IEPS. Analysts estimate the scheme costs Mexico’s treasury roughly US$24 million a day in lost revenue. By tracking fuel transactions digitally, the government aims to make illegal cash-based fuel sales easier to detect and harder to conceal. A recent investigation by InSight Crime found that Mexico’s fuel black market has gone increasingly transnational, with cartels mislabeling shipments at Gulf ports and border crossings to evade taxes.
The policy also fits into a broader financial modernization drive. Despite growing smartphone adoption, cash still dominates everyday commerce in Mexico. Nearly half of Mexican households do not have a bank account, relying exclusively on cash for their purchases. That reality means the new policy could prove difficult for older Mexicans and those in rural areas who are less accustomed to card and phone payments.
The gas station industry’s response will be key. Romano Mussali said digital payment terminals would need to be widely deployed at service stations, and that operators would need to agree to pass the fee savings along to customers rather than absorbing them as additional margin.
If it moves forward, the policy would effectively end cash as an option at Mexico’s roughly 13,500 gas stations and hundreds of toll plazas on federal highways — a transaction volume that, until now, has been overwhelmingly cash-dependent.
Expats and foreign residents who may be weighing their banking options in light of this shift can find guidance at Yucatán Magazine’s roundup of best Mexican banks for foreigners.
No implementation date has been confirmed. The government said the rollout will proceed in coordination with the banking sector, gas station operators, and highway concessionaires.
Digital Payment Plan at a Glance
- What’s changing: Cash payments at gas stations and toll booths will be phased out in favor of cards and digital payments
- When: Sometime in 2026; no firm date announced
- Who’s involved: President Sheinbaum, Banxico, the ABM, and the gas station industry
- Key tools: CoDi (QR-based), DiMo (phone transfer), debit/credit cards, mobile apps
- Incentive: Banks will temporarily waive card transaction fees at gas stations
- Catch: Gas stations must agree to pass savings on to customers and install compatible terminals