Cash seems to be close to losing its status as the main means of payment in Türkiye to the rise of card payments, with official data showing usage of debit and credit cards leaped last year.
Spending through debit and credit cards surged by 86% year-over-year in 2024, according to the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT), led by expenditures in supermarkets and shopping malls.
Total card payments amounted to TL 14.87 trillion ($420 billion) last year, compared to TL 7.97 trillion recorded in 2023, nearly doubling the total in just one year, the data compiled by Anadolu Agency (AA) showed.
Cash usage has fallen sharply over the past decade, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which encouraged contactless payments, and also by reduced costs for smaller retailers to accept cards.
Payments at supermarkets and shopping malls totaled TL 2.6 trillion in 2024, followed by clothing and accessories, which saw card transactions worth nearly TL 1.1 trillion, and various food categories, totaling just over TL 1 trillion.
The data also showed card payments amounted to TL 975.8 billion in the services sector, while electronics, including computers, accounted for TL 947 billion.
At fuel and gas stations, card payments totaled TL 898.5 billion, while their usage for dining and public tax payments amounted to TL 877.5 billion and TL 676.9 billion, respectively.
In Türkiye, a country of about 85 million people, there were some 128.93 million credit cards and 193.45 million debit cards as of November 2024, according to Interbank Card Center (BKM) data.
Those figures are up from 117.71 million and 189.51 million, respectively, in 2023.
They stood at 69.8 million and 133.2 million, respectively, in 2019 before the pandemic, according to the data.
Meanwhile, payments in categories like individual retirement savings stood at TL 75.27 billion last year, car rentals at TL 50.78 billion, and social services such as clubs and associations at TL 46.87 billion.
Accommodation services recorded payments of TL 227.5 billion, contractor services totaled TL 219.87 billion and telecommunications spending reached TL 148.49 billion.
Card payments on jewelry rose by 130% compared to a year ago to TL 253.58 billion, the data showed.
Education, stationery and office supplies saw a 124% growth, while public tax payments climbed by 123%.
In 2024, 29% of all card payments were made online, amounting to TL 4.33 trillion, underscoring the growing prominence of e-commerce and digital payment platforms in everyday spending.
