Spending with credit, prepaid and debit cards leaped 128 percent in September from a year ago to reach 363.4 billion Turkish Liras ($18 billion), according to data from the Interbank Card Center (BKM).
Credit card spending rose by 122 percent on an annual basis to 288 billion liras, while the share of debit cards was 6.88 billion liras, pointing to a 158 percent increase from September 2021.
Prepaid cards were used in 6.4 billion worth of payments in September, which was 152 percent higher compared with the same month of last year.
Payments at gas stations amounted to 33.7 billion liras, up 205 percent year-on-year. Accommodation spending with cards rose 200 percent annually to 14.7 billion liras, while insurance payments at 13.5 billion liras, rising 179 percent.
Payments with cards in the airline industry were 10.2 billion liras, up 167 percent. Food spending exhibited a year-on-year increase of 146 percent to 21.4 billion liras.
The number of credit cards in Türkiye rose by 16 percent to 95.3 million in September, and debit cards increased by 13 percent to 164.6 million.
There were 66 million prepaid cards in September, up 24 percent from a year ago.
Payments with cards on the internet, which accounted for 25.7 percent of all transactions with cards, stood at 99.9 billion liras, rising more than 140 percent.
Hurriyet Daily News