Skopje, 10 October 2023 (MIA) - The National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia has published the data from the payment statistics domain for the second quarter of 2023.

The data show increasing use of payment channels in the country, especially by citizens, in the use of both payment cards and mobile applications for electronic initiation of credit transfers or so-called payment orders, the central bank’s press release reads.

“In the second quarter of 2023, the annual growth in the use of payment cards issued in the country for cash transactions and payments for products and services in the country by citizens equals 13.9% in the number and solid 12.5% in the value of these transactions. Moreover, a significant annual growth of 16.6% was registered in the use of cards for payments of products and services in the country, amid increased growth in payments at physical points of sale of 17.0%, with a solid growth of 11.9% of payments at virtual (internet) points of sale,” reads the press release.

An annual growth was also registered in the citizens’ payment orders, both in the number of payment transactions (19.2%) and in the value of transactions (4.8%), amid further increase in the use of e-banking to initiate these payments.

“The number of electronically initiated payment orders in the second quarter of 2023 increased by 14.2% annually, which is more than 5.7 percent points of the annual growth in the second quarter of 2022 (8.5%).

The number of mobile payments is growing and is higher by 23.3% compared to the number of these transactions in 2022.  At the same time, an annual growth, but not as strong, of 2.7% was registered in the use of computers for payments,” the National Bank said.

The data from the payment statistics domain for the first quarter of 2023, which in addition to the presented data on payment transactions by citizens in the country also include data on payment transactions by legal entities in the country, are available on the following link 

Photo: National Bank