The cumulative number of ATMs deployed by banks as of the end of December 2023 was 2,287 showing an increase of 1.40 per cent over the 2022 position, the central bank’s Payment Systems Oversight Annual Report 2023 says.

The number of POS terminals declined by 6.91 per cent to 12,491 within the same period.

The decline was attributed to some commercial banks' decommissioning of non-functional POS terminals on the market.

The total number of debit cards issued by banks in the same period was 6,050,264 showing an increase of 17.55 per cent as against 5,147,066 cards issued in 2022.

The number of international scheme debit cards issued amounted to 4,885,882 and constituted 80.80 per cent of the total issued debit cards, compared with banks' proprietary cards of 1,164,382 which constituted 19.30 per cent.

International scheme cards increased by 25.40 per cent while banks’ proprietary cards declined by 6.90 per cent in 2023.

The number of credit cards issued as of the end of December 2023 increased by 11.40 per cent to 54,082.

The increase was on account of approvals granted to two additional banks to issue credit cards.

All the credit cards issued were international scheme cards.

The total number of prepaid cards issued declined by 28.27 per cent to 834,501 in 2023.