Economy in Turkey: A noticeable increase in total spending made with cards

In August 2024, there was a significant increase in total spending made with credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards in Turkey. According to data from the Interbank Card Center (BKM), the total amount of card payments during this period reached 1.42 trillion TL,

This marked a 78% increase compared to the same month last year. Payments made with credit cards increased by 83% to 1.192 trillion TL, debit card spending rose by 48% to 200.4 billion TL, and prepaid card spending surged by 104% to 27.8 billion TL.

There was also notable growth in the number of cards. Compared to August 2023, the number of credit cards increased by 13% to 125.9 million, debit cards by 5% to 191.7 million, and prepaid cards by 22% to 101.3 million. The total number of cards reached 418.9 million, showing an 11% growth overall.

The total number of payments made with cards increased by 12% to 1.61 billion transactions; of these, 927.4 million were made with credit cards, 556.1 million with debit cards, and 114.5 million with prepaid cards. The number of credit card transactions increased by 15%, debit card transactions by 3%, and prepaid card transactions by 32%.

Online card payments also saw a major rise. The total amount of online card payments increased by 78% to 413.3 billion TL compared to the same period last year. The share of online payments within total card payments reached 28%, with the number of online transactions increasing by 6% to 217.9 million.