Cyprus card usage reaches second-highest level in the euro area

Cypriots are increasingly turning to card payments, placing the country among the eurozone’s top adopters of non-cash transactions, data published this week by the European Central Bank (ECB) showed.

In the first half of 2025, card payments accounted for 74.5 per cent of the total number of non-cash payments in Cyprus, up 1.4 percentage points compared with the same period a year earlier. This was the second-highest share across the euro area.

At the same time, credit transfers represented 16.1 per cent of transactions, edging up by 0.3 percentage points year-on-year, while direct debits declined slightly to 4 per cent.

E-money payments also eased, accounting for 3.2 per cent of total transactions, down 0.6 percentage points.

Within the eurozone, Portugal recorded the highest share of card payments in the first half of 2025, at 75.7 per cent. Cyprus followed closely, while Greece ranked third with 73 per cent, ahead of Lithuania at 72.8 per cent.

More broadly, the total number of non-cash payments across the euro area reached 77.7 billion in the first half of 2025, marking a 7.7 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2024.

Over the same timeframe, the total value of those transactions rose by 2.9 per cent to €116.0 trillion.

Across the euro area as a whole, card payments accounted for 57 per cent of all non-cash transactions, followed by credit transfers at 22 per cent, direct debits at 14 per cent and e-money payments at 6 per cent.