Electronic retail payments increase

Electronic retail payments showed an increase of 6.2 per cent in number in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010. The payments also increased in value by 7.7 per cent.

This was revealed by the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) fourth quarterly report on “Retail E-Payments and Paper Based Instruments”.

The volume and value of e-payment transactions increased to 53.4 million and Rs4.8 trillion respectively, representing increases of 6.2 per cent and 7.7 per cent over the previous quarter. However, the growth in transactions has slowed from an increase of 8.4 per cent in number and 8.2 per cent in value that was witnessed in the previous quarter.

The number of electronic transactions represented 36.81 per cent of the number of total retail transactions in the country. In terms of value, electronic transactions accounted for 10.63 per cent of all retail transactions.

Meanwhile, the volume and value of ATM transactions reached 31.3 million and Rs250.3 billion respectively, showing an increase of 5.9 per cent in number and 7.6 per cent in value from the previous quarter. Once again, this represents a slowing down from increases of 7.9 per cent in number and 10.4 per cent in value that were recorded in the third quarter of fiscal year 2010.

The total number of ATMs rose by 2.1 per cent to 4,465 during the fourth quarter. This was less than the growth of 3.7 per cent in the previous quarter.

The volume and value of debit card transactions also increased to 35.08 million and Rs269.4 billion respectively, indicating increases of seven per cent in number and 4.8 per cent in value compared to the last quarter.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2010.