The number of payment cards in Lebanon (debit, credit, charge, and prepaid cards) fell by 13.28% (315,955 cards) during the first eight months of 2023 to 2,063,252 cards, down from 2,379,207 cards at end of 2022. In detail, the number of debit cards dropped by 149,273 (9.61%) to 1,403,676, the number of credit cards contracted by 50,808 (35.99%) to 90,381, the number of charge cards fell by 1,983 (2.88%) to 66,914 and the number of prepaid cards decreased by 113,891 (18.48%) to 502,281 cards. In the same vein, the number of Points of Sales (POS) dropped by 2,643 (9.97%) in the first eight months of 2023 to 23,862 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 distributed over 1,260 machines by end of August 2023, down from 1,515 at end of 2022. The drop in ATM machines can be attributed to the closure of some branches as part of banks’ downsizing strategy to accommodate for the slow economic activity and banks’ efforts to trim operating expenses. The Mount Lebanon region amassed the highest concentration of ATMs (441 ATMs <35.00%>), followed closely by Beirut and Suburbs (439 ATMs <34.84%>), the North (138 ATMs <10.95%>), Bekaa (110 ATMs <8.73%>), South (105 ATMs <8.33%>), and Nabatieh (27 ATMs <2.14%>) regions.