Card payments increase seven-fold over market average in Moldova in first quarter of 2016

13:06 | 11.05.2016 Category: Economic

Chisinau, 11 May /MOLDPRES/ - The market of payments with cards issued in Moldova, carried out in the country, in the first quarter of 2016 maintained a tendency of high increase of the last five years, much over the market average. The payments by electronic means grew by 47 per cent in the first three months of 2016 against the last year, as compared to a 7.6-per cent rise on the entire market, according to data by the National Bank of Moldova (BNM).

Moldovans made purchases and paid services with cards worth 687.6 million lei in January-March 2016. Transactions of payments via POS terminals, amounting to an average of 23.7 thousand lei, were carried out daily for purchases and services. It is for the first time that the share of payments by card exceeded nine per cent of the transactions’ value and reached 9.3 per cent, against 6.2 per cent in the first three months of 2015.

A number of 12,667 POS terminals, set in the networks of shops, fuel supply stations and other units for providing services or trade, are available for the holders of those almost 1.4 million cards in circulation in the end of the first quarter of 2016, according to BNM data. On the other hand, the number of ATMs dropped by about 90 in the first quarter of 2016 against the same period last year.

The value of the operations with cards issued in Moldova, carried out in the country, exceeded eight billion lei in the first quarter.

BNM data also shows that the operations with cards issued in Moldova, made abroad, grew more quickly than the transactions in Moldova, respectively by 28.7 per cent. In January-March 2016, operations with cards issued in Moldova, worth 873.7 million lei, were carried out abroad. The card payments accounted for almost 85 per cent of all the operations from abroad, which is an impressive figure.

On the other hand, foreigners and Moldovans holding cards issued abroad spent over one billion lei in Moldova, by 25.7 per cent more against the year before.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor L. Alcaza)

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