Card transactions in Greece followed an overall upward trend since 2019 with the value of domestic payments through Greek cards exceeding the respective total cash withdrawals for the first time in 2022, the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research IOBE said in a survey.
More specifically, IOBE said that accumulated increase of card transactions in the 2015-2022 period was more than 12 times higher on the number of transactions and by 5 times the value of transactions compared with the previous period. The survey also showed that the average value of transactions fell from more than 100 euros in 2009 to below 30 euros in 2022.
During periods when Covid containment measures intensified, online transactions boomed, while present transactions declined, IOBE said, adding that after the relaxation of Covid restrictions, the overall use of card payments remained higher than before.
Present transactions trend has been stronger for debit cards, while online transactions increase has been stronger for credit cards. The value per transaction has decreased for all products following the pandemic crisis, across all channels of transactions, particularly for present. IOBE said that despite the convergence with euro area average with respect to the use of card payments relative to private consumption, Greece remains in the 18th position among the EU27 members in 2021. Hence, there is room for further boosting the use of electronic payments.
