Between the first quarter of 2021 and the same period of 2022, debit transactions increased by 23.2%; creditors grew 1.5%, according to an index prepared by Prisma.
Far from returning to normalcy, the use of plastic to pay constantly gaining ground against cash. And in the first quarter of the year there is one item that stands out more than the others. This is shown by the latest data from the Prisma Means of Payment index, which measures the usage made in the country of credit, debit and prepaid cards. What does the Argentine prefer to card?
“In the first quarter of 2022 year-on-year growth in the number of credit and debit card transactions continues that the last quarter of 2021 can be seen ″, commented Julián Ballarino, head of the company’s institutional relations.
But the difference according to items of what Argentines choose to pay by card – the new thing Prisma introduced in this latest report – provides more insight into preferences when using plastic. And in that sense, the sector that grew the most year-on-year in credit card transactions is Travel, Tourism and Airlineswith 48.6% demand. Restaurants followed a little further, reaching 35.3%
These data mainly reveal that the removal of health restrictions for the summer season and the possibility of joining the Previaje program have encouraged Argentines to travel around the country. “The third factor is the possibility of citation along with the Now12 plans, in stages 3 and 6,” added economist Martín Kalos.
That in the same line he pointed out: “There is no overall increase in consumption, there is no increase in purchasing power in general and that is seen in the consumption of essentials.“.
For Kalos, “there are activities that are still normalizing, so sharp with big increases in the first quarter of 2022. (compared to the same period last year). Let’s not forget that last year some activities were still suffering from the peaks of the pandemic and that in uncertainty and fear many families decided not to spend the summer too far from the City.
“Families who decide to tour the country have an extra for Pre-trip and the possibility to pay using Now12 plans, in 3 and 6 installments,” he said. And I added: “Much of what is seen in the prism report is the normalization of tourism”.
Ignacio Carballo, Crypto & Alternative Finance lead at AMI (USA), Fintech Ecosystem Director at UCA, also agreed with his colleague about the explosion in plastic payments in travel, tourism and other sectors. “It’s because of the return to normalcy,” he said. Although in percentages he made a difference: “Travel tourism and airlines they have the highest ticket in motion. In that sector, no doubt we see a reflection of reality (because this is the item the card pays for the most). If we talk about pharmacies or clothing, on the other hand, we might think that more transactions were made, but there was a more dominant role of cash. ”
Returning to the tourism item, the reading for the specialist coincides with that of Kalos: “Back to normalcy and Pre-trip boom” explain the numbers.
Sign trend of more debit, prepaid and less cash
“Debit card purchases remain more than 50% of the overall volume of this type of card”, added Julián Ballarino. And he added: In addition, Ballarino commented that “there has been slight year-on-year growth of Now 3 and Now 6 plans.”
The number of transactions made using the debit card representing 49.2% of the total, approaching 50%. The volume in the first quarter of 2021 was 45.43% of the total.
Between the first quarter of 2021 and the same period of 2022, the number of transactions made using debit cards rose 23.2%, continuing to strengthen against cash, according to the index prepared by Prisma. Compared to a year earlier, credit cards also grew by 1.5%.
In this regard, Kalos and Carballo have already agreed to increase the debit fee has its main axis which is the Food Card which was previously prepaid is now passed on to its hosts, and that also explains, logically, the collapse of prepaid cards that had their boom, certainly, as a result of that plan. The latter, according to data released by Prism, fell 1.37% compared to
In addition, for Kalos, “it also consolidates the trend that with debit cards more and more people are buying in the area instead of taking money at ATMs and buying. And it is also influencing businesses enables more electronic payment methods in the area.
Pay with credit and Now12
Between January and March of this year, the volume of operations using credit cards reached 49.4% and dropped several points compared to 51.3% recorded in the same period last year. The number of transactions grew by 1.5% year-on-year.
“Today” plans have a large share in the volume of credit card purchases and accounted for 24.6% of the total (more than one point over the same period in 2021).
Among the Now12 program plans, those up to 12 payments were preferred, representing 43.3% of the volume of operations conducted under this program in the first quarter. “Now 6” and “Now 3” were left behind, with 25.54% and 19.72%, respectively.
“Issue quotas continue the same trend. We see how “Today” plans continue to dominate the scene, but we also see how plans two, three, four and six recover even without “Today” plans. With the return of normality, we see how buying with credit continues, ”Ceballos explained.
YN
Source: Clarin
