In May 2022, compared to April, Ukrainians began to buy more goods and services, paying for them with bank cards. According to PrivatBank POS network statistics, the number of purchase payments in May increased by 21% (from 146 million transactions in April to 177 million in May 2022). Accordingly, the cost of purchasing goods and services with bank cards also increased by 21% (UAH 42.3 billion in May against UAH 34.9 billion in April 2022).
The vast majority of card expenses of Ukrainians go to pay for food – in May compared to April, it increased by 12.6% (up to UAH 21.3 billion) and accounts for more than 50% of the total volume of payments for purchases with cards. At the same time, the volume of payments in cafes and restaurants increased significantly – by 54% (to UAH 2.3 billion), hardware and electronics stores (by 41% to UAH 2.9 billion) and gas station chains (by 27% to 1. UAH 23 billion).
“The consumer market is gradually recovering after a sharp drop in the first weeks of the war, the growth in the number of purchases is due both to an increase in the supply of retail chains and small businesses, and due to the active growth in the number of outlets that accept cards for payment,” says the head of the business service directorate. clients of PrivatBank Evgeniy Zaigraev. “Today, non-cash payment in the consumer market is dominant over cash.”
Entrepreneurs and small businesses are restoring the turnover at the fastest pace – by 20% compared to April, in nationwide retail chains, the volume of card payments increased by 16.5%. In total, in May, the number of active trading terminals in the bank’s network that accept payment by cards increased by 9% to 181.5 thousand. At the same time, over the past month, PrivatBank has connected 6300 new POS-terminals to the business.
