Payment movements in the first quarter of 2020
Skopje, 8 June 2020
Bank payments by individuals and legal entities in the country with credit transfers and payment cards, in the first quarter of this year increased annually in numbers and in value of transactions by 15.2% and by 5.8%, respectively. In payments made with credit transfers, the annual growth in the number of transactions was 4.4%, and in value 5.6%. Payments with payment cards in the trade registered a high annual growth in the number and in the value of executed transactions of 27% and 26.2%, respectively.
In March, at the beginning of the health crisis in our country, there was an annual increase in the value of transactions in credit transfers of 4.9% with an increased number of transactions by individuals by 1.3% and slightly declined number of transactions by legal entities of 0.7%. In payments with payment cards, there was a high annual growth of the value and the number of transactions of 27.6% and 31%, respectively, mainly by individuals.
Since the onset of the corona crisis, individuals have increasingly used the benefits of e-banking. The number of electronic credit transfers initiated by citizens in March increased by a significant 30.3% on an annual basis, i.e. by 21.4% on a monthly basis. Citizens used computers in particular to make payments. More specifically, the payments made by computers in March registered a high annual growth of 26.4%, i.e. a monthly growth of 27.2%, which is twice as high as the annual growth in the first quarter of this year, which amounted to 13.8%. Also, citizens used mobile phones for making payments significantly more compared to the previous period. The number of payments made by a mobile phone in March increased by 45.5% annually, registering a moderate monthly growth of 7.4%. The growth in payments made this way is relatively close to the annual growth of the first quarter last year, of 45.9%. Currently, one of the four electronic credit transfers is initiated by citizens via mobile phone, while the other three electronic credit transfers are initiated using a computer.
Changing the citizens’ habits as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a relatively fast annual decline in the number of paper-based credit transfers by 6.9% in March this year, i.e. a monthly decline of 13%. The annual growth of paper-based credit transfers in the first quarter of this year amounted to 4.1%.
However, the use of paper orders by citizens is still high, given that almost three out of four credit transfers are paper-based.
Payments with payment cards on POSs in the first quarter of 2020 registered a high annual growth of 22.3%, driven primarily by individuals. In March, there was an annual increase in the number of transactions of individuals by 11.4%, amid a high annual decline in transactions of legal entities of 17.8%.
In the first quarter of this year, the use of payment cards on online points of sales registered a high annual growth in the number of transactions with 62.3%, driven primarily by individuals. Citizens used payment cards more to buy online in March, reaching a very high annual growth of 99%, amid an annual decline in the number of transactions of legal entities of 2.5%.
The intensive use of the benefits of e-banking and online shopping in March was largely due to the National Bank's appeal for non-cash payments and the use of payment cards, as well as the activities undertaken by banks after the outbreak of the virus, for the public health protection.
Payment statistics