According to the data of the Interbank Card Center (BKM), payments made with cards increased in August. According to the statement made by BKM regarding the August card payment data, at the end of August, 93.8 million credit cards, 161.8 million debit cards and 66.4 million prepaid cards are used in Turkey.
Compared to August last year, the number of credit cards increased by 16 percent, the number of debit cards by 13 percent, and the number of prepaid cards by 28 percent in August. The total number of cards reached 322 million, an increase of 16 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
According to BKM’s data, the total amount of payments made with cards in August increased by 125 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 346 billion TL. While 272.7 billion TL of these payments were made with credit cards, 67.2 billion TL of debit cards and 6.1 billion TL of prepaid cards were used.
Thus, compared to the same period of the previous year, the growth rate in credit card payments was 118 percent, while the rate of growth in payments made with debit cards was 155 percent, while this rate was 172 percent in payments made with prepaid cards.
Commercial credit card payment amount increased by 134 percent
The highest growth in card payments in August, compared to the same period of the previous year, was realized in the airlines sector, with an increase of 294 percent and a payment of 11.2 billion TL. The airlines sector was followed by the fuel stations, accommodation, food, clothing and accessories sectors, respectively.
The number of commercial credit cards, which provide great convenience to business owners in payments, reached 8.7 million as of August.
In August, the amount of payments made by commercial credit cards increased by 134 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 88.3 billion TL.
The share of payments made with commercial credit cards in total credit card payments increased compared to the previous year and reached 32 percent, and 1 TL of every 3 TL credit card payment was made with commercial credit cards.