Withdrawals
Card usage, including ATM withdrawals, increased in both month-on-month and year-on-year terms, statistics show.
Spending on cards was €6.5 billion in November, an increase of 2% from October 2020 and 0.3% above the November 2019 figure.
Total point-of-sale (PoS) spending increased by 4% compared to October 2020, driven by a 6% rise in the retail sector, particularly in electrical goods and clothing.
Spending on services activities increased by 1% month-on-month, driven by an increase in utilities, with the accommodation sub-sector declining by 26%.
Dining
Spending on restaurants and dining declined by 12%. However, the entertainment sub-sector increased by 9% month-on-month.
ATM withdrawals fell for a fourth consecutive month in November, down 8% on the month as additional restrictions limited the ability for in-store spending.
E-commerce expenditure increased 19% on the month and 35% on a year-on-year basis. E-commerce spending accounted for half of all PoS card spending, a new series high, as level-five restrictions pushed spending online.
The total number of credit and debit card transactions increased slightly in November from 124.5 million in October to 125.2 million.
Average spend
Of this, there were 106 million debit card PoS transactions in November, with an average spend of €43.43 per transaction.
This is both an increase in volume and in average spend. The number of credit card transactions in November grew to 12.9 million, an increase of 3% when compared to October 2020.
The average spend increased by 4%, from €66.65 in October to €69.29 in November.
The total number of ATM transactions continued to fall monthly, decreasing by 10%, from October’s 6.9 million transactions to 6.3 million in November.
On a year-on-year basis, this represents a 45% decrease from transactions in November 2019. The average amount withdrawn per ATM transaction increased to €155 from €152 in October
In the retail sector, card spending increased by 6% on a month-on-month basis and 22% on a year-on-year basis, with a 50% and a 29% year-on-year increase in the electrical goods and groceries subsectors, respectively.
Transport
The transport and accommodation sub sectors are 54% and 64% below November 2019 figures respectively.
Card spending in the social sector has fallen by 4% compared to October 2020.
While the entertainment sub-sector saw a month-on-month increase of 9%, restaurants and dining card spending was down 12% compared to October 2020, and 28% below November 2019 levels, as level-five restrictions limited this sub-sector’s activity to take-away and deliveries only.