21.04.2026 19:49
In March, the total payments made with credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards increased by 49 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 2 trillion 608.3 billion liras. While the number of credit cards rose to 146.2 million and the number of debit cards increased to 214.7 million, a decrease was observed in the number of prepaid cards.
The total amount of payments made in March with credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards increased by 49 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching 2 trillion 608.3 billion lira.
CARD COUNT REACHED 458 MILLION
The Interbank Card Center (BKM) announced the data for March. According to this, as of March, the number of credit cards in Turkey rose to 146.2 million, the number of debit cards to 214.7 million, and the number of prepaid cards to 97.9 million. Compared to the same period last year, the number of credit cards increased by 11 percent, debit cards by 8 percent, while the number of prepaid cards declined by 13 percent. The total number of cards increased by 4 percent to 458.8 million.
PAYMENTS INCREASED BY 49 PERCENT
The total amount of payments made in March with credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards increased by 49 percent on an annual basis to 2 trillion 608.3 billion lira. Of these payments, 2 trillion 218.8 billion lira were made with credit cards, 380.9 billion lira with debit cards, and 8.6 billion lira with prepaid cards.
During the same period, the payment amount increased by 50 percent for credit cards and 60 percent for debit cards, while it declined by 76 percent for prepaid cards.
The number of payments made with cards increased by 10 percent to 1.8 billion. Of this, 1 billion 21.3 million were made with credit cards, 697.6 million with debit cards, and 34.7 million with prepaid cards.
CARD PAYMENTS OVER THE INTERNET REACHED 791 BILLION LIRA
Last month, the amount of card payments made over the internet increased by 53 percent on an annual basis, reaching 791.4 billion lira. The share of card payments made over the internet within total payments was 31 percent.
Card payments over the internet increased by 11 percent to 257.2 million. The share of card payments made over the internet within the total was recorded as 15 percent.
The number of contactless payments made with cards increased by 10 percent to 1 billion 153.2 million. The contactless payment amount increased by 50 percent to 849.8 billion lira. In March, 4 out of every 5 card payments made in-store were contactless.