A total of ₺127 billion was paid in March with the cards. Public/tax expenditures are in the first place with ₺6.8 billion in card payments.
Interbank Card Center (BKM) announced card payment data for March 2021.
According to BKM’s data, at the end of March, 78 million credit cards, 142.5 million debit cards and 46.8 million prepaid cards are used in Turkey.
Compared to March 2020, there was an increase of 10% in the number of credit cards, 6% in the number of debit cards, and 39% in the number of prepaid cards.
The total number of cards reached 267.3 million, an increase of 12% compared to the same period last year.
₺127 BILLION IN CARD PAYMENTS
According to BKM data, the total amount of payments made with credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards in March increased by 48% compared to the same period of the previous year and reached ₺127 billion.
₺106.3 billion of these payments were made by credit cards, ₺18.9 billion by debit cards and ₺1.5 billion by prepaid cards. Accordingly, the growth rate in credit card payments was 47% compared to the same period of the previous year, 48% in payments with debit cards, while this rate was 232% in payments made with prepaid cards.
THE GREATEST INCREASE IN THE PAYMENTS MADE BY CARDS IN THE PUBLIC/TAX PAYMENTS SECTOR
When the sector distribution of payments made with cards in March is analyzed, the highest growth compared to the same period of the previous year was realized in the public/tax payments sector with a 236% increase and a payment of ₺6.8 billion.
It was seen that the payment of the first installments of tax debt restructuring was effective in this increase.
The public/tax payments sector was followed by clothing and accessories with a 92% increase and ₺9 billion payment, and electronic goods with an increase of 89% and a payment of ₺9.5 billion, furniture and decoration with 75% increase and ₺4.3 billion payment, 65% increase and ₺2.9 billion payment in education/stationery, respectively.
INTERNET CARD PAYMENT AMOUNT HAS REACHED DOUBLE OF THE PAST YEAR
Online card payments continue to be preferred and spread rapidly in all areas of life, from the market to food orders, from retail to tax payments.
The amount of online card payments increased by 100% in March compared to the same period of the previous year and reached ₺33 billion.
The share of online card payments in total card payments increased from 19% in March last year to 25% this year. In other words, ₺1 of every ₺4 card payment was made online.
While online payments were made with a total of 26 million different cards in March, it was observed that this number increased by 38% compared to last year.
This indicates how widely the internet card payments are used by the users. While the digital transformation continues rapidly on the workplace side, the number of workplaces that made card payments on the internet in March increased by 37% compared to the previous year and reached 73 thousand.
This transformation in both card users and workplaces shows how fast online payments are becoming widespread.
Source: NTV / Translated by Irem Yildiz