ASTANA – Kazakhstan has seen a significant rise in cashless transactions, with their share exceeding 85% in 2024, according to the National Bank’s annual report on the development of the national digital financial infrastructure published on Jan. 27.
The number of active payment cards also grew by 8%, reaching 39.3 million in January-June last year.
The number of POS terminals grew by 25%, reaching 1.16 million units, while ATMs dedicated solely to cash dispensing decreased by 15.2%, down to 4,500, as of July 2024.
The National Bank attributes much of this growth to the boost in online banking sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 70% of Kazakhstan’s economically active population now use online banking, a jump of 4.6 times in the past five years, totaling 23.3 million users. Additionally, the e-commerce sector has expanded, with the number of transactions increasing 4.3 times from 2019 to 2023 and the average transaction value rising 1.5 times to 28,551 tenge (US$55.3).
