Hungarians don’t really want to pay in cash anymore

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 06. 19. 09:13

In the first quarter of 2024, the number of Hungarian bank card cash withdrawals barely exceeded 20.6 million, which means an average of two transactions per card in three months. This number is 2.3 percent lower than the data from a year earlier, so overall it is not significant, but the reduction is already noticeable in a five-year perspective, Világgazdaság reported based on the latest data from the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB).

The phenomenon is not new, as more than 24 million domestic ATM transactions were recorded in the first three months of 2019, while in the first quarter of this year this number fell to 20.6 million. However, the lowest point was the first quarter of 2021, when the number of transactions fell to 20.2 million as a result of the restrictions introduced due to the coronavirus epidemic.

The total value of domestic and foreign cash withdrawals also shows a drop of 2.3 percent, which indicates that not only the frequency of ATM use, but also the amount of money withdrawn has decreased.

On the other hand, the number of domestic card purchases shows a significant increase. In the first quarter of 2024, more than 407 million transactions were carried out, the total value of which increased by 8.3 percent, reaching HUF 3,719.4 billion. This data clearly reflects the infrastructural developments in the field of electronic payments and the decreasing trend of cash usage in the Hungarian market.

The data clearly show that the Hungarian population increasingly prefers electronic payment methods, which offer a convenient and fast alternative to traditional cash withdrawals.