, a partnership of 13 public and private Turkish banks.){kind=link}
Credit card usage in Turkey in July saw a significant surge in comparison to July 2022, with a 19 percent increase in the number of credit cards, 14 percent in bank cards and 24 percent in prepaid cards, the Dünya news website reported, citing data from the Interbank Card Center (BKM), a partnership of 13 public and private Turkish banks.
According to BKM data, 753 billion Turkish liras (TL) were paid with cards in 1.4 billion transactions in July.
As of July, the number of credit cards in Turkey totaled 109.8 million, while bank cards amounted to 181.1 million, and prepaid cards stood at 81 million. Overall, the total number of cards grew to 371.9 million, an 18 percent increase compared to the same month last year.
Payments made with credit cards, bank cards and prepaid cards increased by 138 percent year-on-year to TL 752.5 billion. Of this total, TL 618.4 billion was made with credit cards, TL 122.1 billion with bank cards and TL 12 billion with prepaid cards.
The growth rate for payments made with credit cards was 149 percent compared to the previous year, while bank card payments grew by 96 percent, and prepaid card payments by 105 percent.
The total number of payments made with credit cards, bank cards and prepaid cards in July also saw a significant increase, rising by 32 percent year-on-year to 1.4 billion. Credit card payments accounted for 787 million transactions, bank cards for 516 million and prepaid cards for 84 million.
The growth in payment numbers varied, with credit card payments increasing by 34 percent from the previous year, bank card payments by 30 percent and prepaid card payments by 27 percent.
The increase in card usage reflects Turkey’s growing reliance on digital payment systems as well as high inflation, which makes loans a reasonable choice for purchasing decisions.