Since August of this year, the number of payment cards in Azerbaijan has begun to grow again, amid the introduction of a limit on card-to-card transactions.
According to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, by the end of August the country had 22,974,000 payment cards, an increase of 189,000 units (0.8%) compared to the end of July.
However, in July the number of payment cards decreased by 29,000 units (0.05%) compared to June, reaching 22,785,000 units.
Interestingly, last month the total volume of cashless transactions in Azerbaijan also declined compared to the previous month. In August, the total volume of domestic cashless payments made with cards amounted to 8 billion 888 million manats, which is 824 million manats (8.5%) less than in July. In July, the total volume of cashless transactions decreased by 190 million manats (1.9%) compared to June, reaching 9 billion 712 million manats.
We note that starting next month, Azerbaijan plans to issue one payment card per product in each bank, with the exception of payment cards intended for salaries, pensions and other social benefits, as well as those linked to business or deposit accounts.
