Non cash payments in Cyprus in the second half of 2023 rose by 12% year on year to €129 billion with total transactions amounting to 152 million marking an annual increase of 15%, the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) has said.

According to the first edition of payment statistics, issued by the CBC, the rate of increase exceeded that of the euro area where the value declined by 7% and the volume of transactions rose by 7%.

The value of credit transfers grew by 13% to €106 billion, while the value of direct debits exhibited a marginal increase of 4% reaching €2 billion in the second half of 2023 compared with the second half of 2022. The value of card payments recorded an increase of around 14% amounting to €7 billion, while the value of e-money payments remained relatively stable at €3 billion for the same period.

Cheques remained flat at €11 billion.

According to the CBC, credit transfers with 83% of the total value were the most popular means of payment in Cyprus whereas cheques came second with 8% of total value, as opposed to the Euro area where cheques accounted for less than 1% of the value in the same period.

In terms of transactions, card payments in Cyprus are used more frequently (73%) compared to the euro area (56%) and stand out as the most popular method of non-cash payment transactions in Cyprus.

Cypriots used credit transfers (average value: €4,659) and cheques (average value: €3,351) for higher-value payments, whereas card payments (average value: €63) were mostly used for lower- value payments.

According to the CBC, in Cyprus, there was a relative preference for high-value card payments initiated remotely (i.e. online) rather than at physical POSs (i.e. at the store). It is noteworthy that the average value per card transaction initiated online for CY cards (€122) was one of the highest in the euro area

At the end of the second half of 2023 the number of payment cards outstanding increased by 8% to 1.9 million compared with the second half of 2022, averaging two payment cards per Cypriot inhabitant

The number of ATMs continue to remain a valuable channel of self-service in Cyprus with €2.4 billion of withdrawals reported in the second half of 2023 recording a modest increase of 3% compared to the corresponding period of 2022, the CBC added.