BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 28
By Eldar Janashvili - Trend:
From January through September 2019, the volume of payments through Azerbaijan’s National Payment System Infrastructure amounted to 191 billion manat ($111.9 billion), and the number of transactions - 40 million units, having increased by 44 percent compared to the same period in 2018, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijan’s Central Bank.
The coverage of Azerbaijan’s Government Payments Portal, operated by the Central Bank, has expanded, and the possibility of receiving payments on 1,437 municipalities has been created. Thus, payments on more than 550 services of various organizations, including most government bodies, municipalities, utilities, mobile operators, universities, etc. can be carried out in a non-cash form by using the portal’s online resources and banks’ electronic banking services.
The volume of transactions carried out through the portal during this period amounted to 2.3 billion manat ($1.3 billion), showing a 36 percent growth compared to the same period last year, and the volume of non-cash transactions increased 3.4 times and amounted to 956 million manat ($560 million).
As of Sept. 30, 2019, the number of payment cards in Azerbaijan increased by 16 percent compared to the same period last year to 1.2 million manat ($702,808). The number of payment cards in Azerbaijan increased by 16 percent compared to the corresponding period last year, to 7.5 million units, 1.2 million of which are contactless ones, and their the number increased by 2.4 times.
The number of ATMs throughout Azerbaijan amounted to 2,654, which is 114 more than in the same period last year. At the same time, 1,407 ATMs are located in Baku, 1,247 - in other cities and regions. The number of POS terminals installed by banks amounted to 65,153, and 27,530 of them are contactless ones. Compared to the first nine months of 2018, the number of contactless POS-terminals increased by 6,466 units (an increase of 31 percent).
Payment card transactions in Azerbaijan increased by 28 percent to 15.5 billion manat ($9 billion). The share of non-cash transactions in operations with payment cards increased by 59 percent to 3.3 billion manat (nearly $2 billion, or 21 percent).
($1= 1.7 manat on Oct. 28)