Official data showed that citizens and residents made about 392.94 million payments and withdrawals of funds during the first 6 months of 2022, an increase of 37.5%, including 107.14 million transactions, compared to the same period of 2021, during which the number of payments and withdrawals of funds amounted to about 285.8 million.
During the period from January to the end of June of this year (2022), cash transactions made through ATMs accounted for 11% of the total transactions carried out by citizens and residents, while online payments accounted for about 28%. Of the total transactions that took place during the same period, while direct payments through points of sale with bank cards accounted for about 61% of the total transactions that took place during the period, reports a local Arabic daily.
In detail, credit card payments through points of sale (direct purchase) accounted for 61% of the total payments made by citizens and residents during the period from January to the end of June 2022, including about 240 million direct purchases, including 226.9 million purchases within Kuwait, and 13.13 million credit card purchases through points of sale abroad.
From January to the end of March 2022, spending transactions through points of sale accounted for 118.748 million transactions, including 112.1 million transactions inside Kuwait and 6.64 million transactions abroad, while during the period from April to the end of June 2022, the number of transactions increased to 121.32 million direct purchases including, 114.8 million operations inside Kuwait and 6.49 million operations abroad.
In comparison on an annual basis, the number of purchases through points of sale made by citizens and residents during the first half of 2022 increased by 48%, with a value of 77.74 million purchases, compared to 162.3 million transactions they made during the same period in 2021.
The number of transactions on ATMs (cash) accounted for about 11% of the transactions of citizens and residents with their bank cards, at a rate of 43.12 million transactions out of 392.94 million they made from January to the end of June 2022, and cash withdrawals inside Kuwait accounted for about 41.74 million transactions were made, while withdrawals through ATMs outside Kuwait amounted to 1.38 million withdrawals in 6 months.
The data showed that the number of cash transactions decreased during the second quarter of 2022, reaching 21.66 million transactions from January to the end of March 2022, including 20.94 million transactions inside Kuwait and 726,000 transactions abroad, while the number of transactions decreased during the period from April to The end of June 2022 reached 21.46 million transactions, including 20.8 transactions inside Kuwait and 655 thousand transactions abroad.
In comparison on an annual basis, the number of cash withdrawals carried out by citizens and residents increased by 7%, with a total of 2.9 million transactions, to reach 43.12 million cash withdrawal transactions during the first half of 2022, compared to 40.2 million transactions during the same period in 2021.
Electronic payment operations via websites were about 28% of the total transactions made with bank cards during the first 6 months of 2022, with 109.7 million online payments out of 392.9 transactions made using bank cards during that period.
Payments via websites inside Kuwait accounted for 87.34% of the total transactions across websites, with 95.86 million transactions during the first 6 months of 2022, while transactions via websites outside Kuwait accounted for 12.65% of the total transactions, with 13.89 million transactions during that period.
The total number of transactions online during from January to the end of March 2022 amounted to about 52.98 million transactions, including 46.33 million transactions inside Kuwait and 6.65 million transactions abroad, and during the period from April to the end of June 2022 the number of transactions reached 56.76 million transactions. Among them, 49.53 million transactions were at home and 7.23 million were transactions abroad.
In comparison, on an annual basis, the number of transactions through websites during the period from January to the end of June 2022 increased by 32%, amounting to 26.48 million transactions, reaching 109.75 million transactions, compared to 83.26 million transactions for the same period in 2021.
The data showed that the net increase in the number of bank cards in the market amounted to 158.1 thousand in 6 months, as the number of valid cards at the end of last June reached about 5.05 million bank cards, compared to 4.89 million cards at the end of December 2021.