In Turkiye, the amount of card payments in March increased by 117% compared to the same period of the previous year and reached ₺523.2 billion.
Interbank Card Center (BKM) published the statistics for March.
Accordingly, at the end of March, the total number of cards in Turkiye increased by 17% compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 354.4 million. The number of credit cards increased by 18% to 104.1 million, debit cards increased by 13% to 174.4 million, and the number of prepaid cards increased by 27% to 75.9 million.
Last month, the total amount of payments made with credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards increased by 117% compared to the same period of 2022 and reached ₺523.2 billion. Of these payments, ₺416.8 billion were made with credit cards, ₺97.9 billion with debit cards and ₺8.5 billion with prepaid cards. The growth rate was 114% in credit cards, 132% in debit cards, and 113% in prepaid cards.
The highest increase is in the “association/social services” sector.
When the sectoral distribution of payments made by cards is analyzed in March, the highest growth was realized in the “association/social services” sector with the effect of the earthquake and with an increase of 191% compared to the same period of the previous year. The amount in question was ₺2.2 billion.
The rate of increase was 188% (₺23.2 billion) in the “car rental-sales/service/spare parts” sector and 184% (₺22.8 billion) in the “insurance” sector. The increase rate was 154% (₺11.8 billion) in “education/stationery/office supplies” and 149% (₺41.5 billion) in the “electrical-electronic goods, computer” sector.
2 out of 3 in-store payments were contactless
In contactless payments, which allow making payments via cards and mobile devices without requiring any contact, the limit for unencrypted transactions was increased to ₺750 on July 1, 2022. Transactions above this amount could be made contactless and encrypted. Thanks to the application, users have now started to make payments with higher amounts much faster and easier.
Last month, the number of contactless payments reached 662 million, an increase of 40% compared to the same period of 2022. In March, 70% of in-store card payments, that is, 2 out of every 3 payments, were made contactless. The number of daily contactless payments has exceeded 21 million.
Contactless payments provided great convenience not only to card users but also to business owners. While the contactless transformation continues rapidly on the workplace side, contactless payments can be made in 4 out of 5 terminals.
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz