BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24
Trend:
Despite signs that the market for non-cash payments is approaching saturation, the volume of non-cash payments by cards continues to break records, Trend reports with reference to the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan (AFK).
According to AFK, in half of Kazakhstan's regions, the share of non-cash payments exceeded 70 percent, while payments in POS terminals account for 91 percent of retail turnover.
It is reported that by the beginning of October, the volume of non-cash card transactions exceeded the corresponding indicators of cash withdrawal operations by more than three times amounting to 49.6 ($114.6 billion) vs 15 trillion tenge ($34.7 billion), respectively, reflecting a significant change in consumer preferences in favor of non-cash payments. For comparison, a year earlier the excess was less than two times, 22.3 ($51.5 billion) versus 12 trillion tenge ($27.7 billion), respectively.
At the same time, along with an increase in non-cash payments, an increase in the volume of cash withdrawals and their volume in circulation was noted, which may be due to the high share of the shadow economy (approx. 20 percent), increased inflationary processes and the confidence of part of the population in cash.
Accordingly, the further penetration of non-cash payments may be due to the coverage of segments that traditionally use cash circulation (for example, informal employment: trade, services, etc.).
In addition, AFK noted the discussion of the mechanism of fiscalization of card / mobile payments, the planned introduction of digital tenge (still at an early pilot stage), as well as the universal declaration of income.
These measures, along with the rapid penetration of digital services, can make it possible to bridge the observed gap in payment methods between cities of republican significance and individual regions mainly bordering Russia.