Card payments witness 32 pct annual growth

ISTANBUL

The total value of payments made with credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards in Türkiye increased 32 percent year-on-year in May to 2.63 trillion Turkish Liras, according to data released by the Interbank Card Center (BKM).

Credit card payments accounted for the largest share of the total, reaching 2.21 trillion liras.

As of May, the number of credit cards in circulation stood at 149 million, while there were 216.6 million debit cards and 99.1 million prepaid cards. Compared with the same month last year, the number of credit cards increased 11 percent, debit cards rose 2 percent and prepaid cards declined 3 percent.

Of the total payment volume recorded in May, 412.8 billion liras was made with debit cards and 7.9 billion liras with prepaid cards. Payment values increased 30 percent year-on-year for credit cards and 50 percent for debit cards, while prepaid card spending fell 59 percent.

Online card payments reached 740.4 billion in May, marking a 19 percent increase. Internet payments represented 28 percent of total card spending. The number of online card transactions rose 2 percent to 254.6 million, accounting for 14 percent of all card transactions.