Debit card spending at PoS and ATM in Ireland was 5.6 times the value of credit card expenditure in Q4 2019, according to data released by the Central Bank.
A total of 305 million individual PoS transactions were made during the quarter, with an average spend of €41.53 per transaction.
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On the other hand, credit card transactions were 42 million, with an average spend of €74.60 per transaction.
The value of all card transactions was €20.7bn in the final quarter of 2019, up 5% from the prior year.
Debit card PoS spending surged by 18% to more than €4.8bn in Q4 2019.
On the contrary, credit card spending rose by 8% to €1.1bn, reported Law Society Gazette Ireland.
Debit card PoS expenditures increased across all categories.
Retail sector spending rose 13% to €293m. Groceries/perishables contributed to 36% of this rise.
The highest annual growth rate of all debit card sub-categories was in the utilities sector, which reported a growth of 24%.
Credit card spending also witnessed growth in all sub-categories, with electrical goods reporting the largest growth within the retail sector.
According to Law Society Gazette Ireland, card spending outside Ireland averaged €636m in the final quarter, an 8% rise from the prior year.
Both debit card and credit card spending abroad reported growth in Q4 2019, increasing to €1.4bn and €497m, respectively.
