BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 4
By Eldar Janashvili – Trend:
The number of cashless transactions by payment cards in Azerbaijan from March through April 2020 reached 17.5 million, and the amount - 977.3 million manat ($574.8 million), Trend reports referring to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA).
The growth of transactions' number made up 71 percent compared to the same period in 2019, and the growth of amount - 39 percent.
In order to increase the public interest for cashless payments, from March to April of this year, CBA, jointly with the Visa International Service Association, held ‘Visa with cards!’ campaign.
Following the campaign, within the framework of the memorandum signed between CBA and the Visa International Service Association, the second draw of a stimulating lottery was held on May 15. It was aimed to increase population interest in digital payments, develop non-cash payment tradition among business entities and increase сashless turnover in the economy.
The right to participate in the lottery was automatically obtained by each card user who carried out a cashless transaction in the amount starting from 5 manat ($2.9) via POS terminals, installed in the country's business entities, with Visa payment cards and the cards issued by Azerbaijani banks during the lottery. Over this period, the prize was 100 manat ($58.8), and the number of winners was 300.
In March, covering the period of the first draw, 867,690 operations meeting the lottery conditions were carried out through 182,002 cards. In April, covering the period of the second draw, 762,029 operations were carried out via 159,348 cards.
It was also noted that CBA will continue activities to expand the cashless payments.
(1 USD = 1.7 AZN on June 4)