Card payment volume exceeded 2.5 trillion liras in April
In Turkey, the volume of card payments reached a new peak in April 2026, surpassing 2.5 trillion liras. While contactless payment methods stood out for in-store transactions, a significant increase was also observed in online transactions.
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According to the latest data released by the Interbank Card Center (BKM), the total amount of payments made with credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards in Turkey in April increased by 44 percent compared to the same month last year, reaching 2 trillion 559.6 billion liras.
As of the end of April, the total number of cards in the country rose to 462 million. Credit cards reached a volume of 147.6 million, debit cards 216 million, and prepaid cards 98.4 million. While there was an 11 percent annual increase in the number of credit cards and a 2 percent increase in debit cards, the number of prepaid cards declined by 3 percent. Thus, the total number of cards recorded a 4 percent increase.
The number of card payments also increased by 14 percent annually, reaching 1.8 billion. In these transactions, the number of payments made with credit cards was 1 billion 59.7 million, payments made with debit cards were 740.5 million, and those with prepaid cards were 32 million.
While spending with credit cards amounted to 2 trillion 185.2 billion liras, payments made with debit cards rose to 366.8 billion liras. Payments of 7.6 billion liras were made with prepaid cards. The increase in payments with credit cards was 44 percent and 48 percent for debit cards, while a 60 percent decrease was observed in prepaid cards compared to the same period last year.
INCREASE IN CONTACTLESS AND ONLINE PAYMENTS
In April 2026, payments made with cards online also increased by 39 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 756.9 billion liras. The share of digital shopping in total card payments was recorded at 30 percent. In addition, the number of online card payments rose by 11 percent to 249.2 million, accounting for 14 percent of the total number of transactions.
The use of contactless payments continued to become widespread in stores. In April, the number of contactless transactions climbed by 16 percent to 1 billion 233.7 million. The value of contactless payments rose by 51 percent to 855 billion liras. In in-store card payments, four out of every five transactions were carried out contactlessly, and the habit of contactless payment has become dominant in the majority of the market.