The number of payment cards in Lebanon (debit, credit, charge, and prepaid cards) fell by 7.11% (201,487 cards) during the first eight months of 2021 to 2,632,214 cards, down from 2,833,701 cards at end of 2020. In detail, the number of debit cards dropped by 104,988 to 1,744,922, with the number of credit cards plunging by 90,329 to 273,881, the number of charge cards falling by 8,933 to 72,662 while the number of prepaid cards increased by 2,763 to 540,749 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 6.03% in the first eight months of 2021 to 31,424 as a result of merchants’ preference for cash sales to overcome withdrawal limits 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 1,805 machines by end of August 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 (656 ATMs <36.34%>), followed closely by Beirut and Suburbs (647 ATMs <35.84%>), North (191 ATMs <10.58%>), South (143 ATMs <7.92%>), Bekaa (137 ATMs <7.59%>), and Nabatieh (31 ATMs <1.72%>) regions.