BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, November 25. A total number of bank cards in circulation in Kyrgyzstan amounted to 6,344,100 cards as of September 30, 2023, which is a 36.1-percent increase compared to the same period last year, Trend reports.
Data from the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan indicates that in comparison to the beginning of 2023, the number of cards in circulation grew by 21.2 percent.
Among these, 3,220,148 cards belonged to the Elkart national payment system, accounting for 50.8 percent of the total. Specifically, 3,215,245 cards (50.7 percent of the total) belonged to 'Elkart,' and 4,903 (0.1 percent) to 'Elkart-UPI.'
At the same time, international payment systems had 3,123,948 cards (49.2 percent), comprising VISA (46.61 percent), Mastercard (0.83 percent), Russian Zolotaya Korona (1.5 percent), and Union Pay International (0.34 percent).
There were 2,159 ATMs and 19,155 POS terminals operating across the country as of the end of September 2023.