OREANDA-NEWS. April 12, 2010. The CBA informs that as of 1st March 2010 the country numbered 4.049 million active plastic cards issued by local banks against 4.017 million by 1st February and 3.97 million ones by 1st January 2010, 3.626 million ones by 1st January 2009, 2.787 million ones by 1st January 2008 and 1.42 million by 1st January 2007.

“This February it was conducted 4.008 million transactions, including 3.8 million on debit and 166,000 on credit cards,” it was informed.

For the first time the country registered only one transaction a month.

For Jan-Feb 2010 it was carried out 6.277 million transactions via cards, including 5.947 million ones via debit cards and 330,000 ones via credit cards versus 45.299 million (43.306 million and 1.99 million respectively) following 2009,” it was reported.

For comparison: in 2008, 40.111 million operations were conducted with plastic cards issued in Azerbaijan, including 38.448 million operations on debit and 1.663 million operations on credit cards.

Issue of plastic cards in the country started in 1997.