The Interbank Card Center (BKM) has observed that contactless payments via credit and debit cards have soared across Turkey in February and March 2020.
Payments made by contactless cards and mobile payments constituted some 15% of all market or store shopping in February, some 10% higher than the rate in the same month of 2020, according to Soner Canko, the CEO of BKM.
In the first 11 days of March, when the coronavirus outbreak knocked on Turkey’s door, the rate of using contactless payment methods via cards and smartphones soared.
Some 38.9 million credit cards (55%) and 36.3 million debit and pre-paid cards (22%) used in Turkey comply with contactless payment technology, according to BKM.
Payments using smartphones are also on the rise in Turkey. The number of mobile payments reached 376,000 with a 2.5-fold annual increase.
Meanwhile, the volume of shopping via all sorts of cards in February reached USD 13.1 billion in February with an annual increase of 29%. The rate of increase in payments by credit cards was 25% , whereas the increase in other cards was 52%.
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