Issued payment card transactions by resident issuers within the country has totaled 36,960,674 units, GEL 2,891,506, 000 as of Aug 2020. The number was up from 27,896,350 units, GEL 2,377,034,000 as of Aug 2019. Out of total payment transactions, this year, as of Aug 2020, withdrawal from ATM stood at 6,741,822 units, GEL 1,859,029,000. The units of POS transactions are significantly larger in comparison with ATM transactions. The number was 30,218,852. However, in case of volume, ATM withdrawals are still remaining dominant, as the volume of transactions via POS reached GEL 1,032,477,000 during our report period.

Together with the growing POS transactions, the number of operations conducting through the internet (issuing) has more than doubled for Aug 2020, in comparison with the same period of 2019. Overall, 6,482,068 units of operation, worth GEL 429,557,000 has been conducted for the end of Aug 2020. The number was 3,605,056 units, worth GEL 277,007,000 as of Aug 2019.

According to the National Bank of Georgia, the number of payment debit Cards in circulation was 6,270,121 as of Aug 2020, up from 6,129,746 as of Aug 2019.

The main hindrance of cashless payment development in Georgia are still remaining selling spots and taxis with cash only payments. In addition, consumers are also increasingly seeking cash as a result of financial market volatility, while others just want to keep more cash on hand during a crisis.

Meanwhile, COVID pandemic is believed to accelerate cashless payments globally and also in Georgia.

“In connection with the development of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic causing Covid-19 disease in many industries and sectors, more and more companies are developing their activities via the internet, remotely providing their services and selling their products under e-commerce. Many companies that did not do this before now switch to remote activities, carried out electronically via the internet,” said Dariusz Prokopowicz, Head of Innovation Department at International Institute of Innovations Science-Education-Development of Warsaw.

According to Prokopowicz, the importance of internet marketing, including viral marketing, real-time marketing conducted on social media portals is increasing. “The development of electronic banking is also increasing, including online and mobile banking. The share of payments made electronically, without cash via the internet and during payments with the use of electronic bank cards is increasing. More and more citizens paying in stores do not use cash but make contactless payments.

Limits for all contactless payments made with bank cards have just been increased in some countries. Therefore, the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus will increase the share of payments made electronically in the context of all payments made in national economies, but it does not necessarily lead to the creation of a completely new cashless economic system”.