The number of payment cards in Lebanon (debit, credit, charge, and prepaid cards) fell by 7.93% (224,689 cards) during the year 2021 to 2,609,012 cards, down from 2,833,701 cards at end of 2020. In detail, the number of debit cards dropped by 99,977 to 1,749,933, the number of credit cards plunged by 148,491 to 215,719, the number of charge cards fell by 5,374 to 76,221 and the number of prepaid cards increased by 29,153 to 567,139 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 7.51% in 2021 to 30,932 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 continued to shrink encompassing 1,724 machines by end of December 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 (634 ATMs <36.77%>), followed closely by Beirut and Suburbs (600 ATMs <34.80%>), the North (185 ATMs <10.73%>), South (132 ATMs <7.66%>), Bekaa (141 ATMs <8.18%>), and Nabatieh (32 ATMs <1.86%>) regions.