BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 1. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) has announced the volume of transactions with payment cards in 2023, Trend reports.
The number of payment cards in circulation in Azerbaijan last year amounted to 16.9 million units, which is 24 percent higher than in 2022.
The data from the CBA's review of payment systems showed that 77 percent of the total number of payment cards support contactless payment.
The review noted that the number of payment cards grew by 32 percent.
As of 2023, 87 percent of payment cards in circulation were debit cards (14.7 million) and 13 percent - credit cards (2.2 million).
Last year, the total volume of domestic transactions using payment cards increased by 56 percent compared to 2022, reaching 88.1 billion manat ($51.8 billion). Specifically, the volume of cashless transactions doubled, reaching 49 billion manat ($28.9 billion ).
Meanwhile, the share of cashless transactions in domestic operations using payment cards grew by 12.4 percentage points year on year to 55.6 percent.
Besides, in 2023, the number of transactions in the online trading system rose by 2.2 times to 563.4 million, and the transaction volume increased by 2.1 times, reaching 39.2 billion manat ($23 billion), the number of cashless transactions through POS terminals in economic entities increased by 2.1 times to 416.6 million, and their volume - by 68.5 percent, reaching 9.8 billion manat ($5.8 billion).
The number of contactless payments through POS terminals last year grew by 2.2 times in 2023, reaching 401.1 million, and the transaction volume increased by 82.5 percent to 8.9 billion manat ($5.2 billion).
Meanwhile, the overall volume of transactions conducted using payment cards within the country increased by 56 percent compared to 2022, reaching 88.1 billion manat ($51.8 billion). Specifically, the volume of cashless transactions doubled to 49 billion manat ($28.9 billion).
In 2023, the number of transactions in the electronic trading system increased by 2.2 times, reaching 563.4 million units, and the transaction volume increased by 2.1 times to 39.2 billion manat ($23 billion).
Notably, volume of card payments within Azerbaijan in 2022 amounted to 59.02 million manat ($34.7 million).