The number of payment cards in Lebanon (debit, credit, charge, and prepaid cards) fell by 6.50% (184,252 cards) during the first half of 2021 to 2,649,449 cards, down from 2,833,701 cards at end of 2020. In detail, the number of debit cards dropped by 86,580 to 1,763,330, with the number of credit cards plunging by 77,754 to 286,456, the number of charge cards falling by 14,757 to 66,838 and the number of prepaid cards dropping by 5,161 to 532,825 cards. This drop in the number of cards is mainly attributed to restrictions on international transactions (except for fresh cash cards) introduced by banks in the light of the liquidity squeeze in foreign currency which dissuaded card holders from renewing their cards or obtaining new ones. In the same vein, the number of Points of Sales (POS) dropped by 4.74% in the first half of 2021 to 31,856 as a result of merchants’ preference for cash sales to overcome withdrawal restrictions imposed by banks not to mention the closure of a number of enterprises amid the prolonged economic depression.

In a related note, the banking sector’s ATM network witnessed a drop in the number of ATM machines, which fell to 1,810 machines by end of June 2021, down from 1,874 at end of 2020. The drop in ATM machines can be attributed to the closure of some branches to accommodate for the slow economic environment and banks’ efforts to trim operating expenses. Mount Lebanon amassed the highest concentration of ATMs (660 ATMs <36.46%>), followed closely by Beirut and Suburbs (650 ATMs <35.91%>), North (191 ATMs <10.55%>), South (142 ATMs <7.85%>), Bekaa (137 ATMs <7.57%>), and Nabatieh (30 ATMs <1.66%>) regions.