Ana Clara Pedotti
07/26/2021 6:00
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 07/26/2021 7:51 AM
The consumption habits of Argentines began to "normalize" in the first months of this year and, despite the fact that in the second part of May the impact of the second wave in the country led the Government to establish new closures of activities, in the second quarter of the year saw
a recovery in the use of cards, both debit and credit.
Thus, the use of credit cards shows a year-
on-
year growth of
50.5% in the number of transactions
, but the comparison base of 12 months ago coincides with the hardest months of the ASPO, when "face-to-face" purchases had been practically frozen.
In any case, so far this year, the use of this form of payment seems to have stabilized this year with the return to normality post-pandemic: of all purchases made with plastics,
45.6% were made with debit,
just one 0.3% of what had been seen in the first quarter of 2021. 51.3% of these payments were made with credit and the remaining 3% with prepaid cards.
The data comes from a report that Prisma Medios de Pago prepares every three months.
In the last Prisma index, which uses as a base the statistical information of different products that it manages, such as the LaPos terminals, the Banelco ATM network, the electronic payment of taxes and services in PagoMisCuentas, the transactions through Todo Pago, among others, you can see the evolution of payments between March and last June.
“There is a very important year-on-year growth in the use of cards since it is compared against the beginning of the pandemic in the country.
Debit cards recovered 50.57% while
credit cards were 33.93% ”,
commented Julián Ballarino, Head of Institutional Relations at Prisma Medios de Pago.
At the same time, the Prisma report shows a stabilization of the use of debit to make payments, around 48% of the operations carried out with these plastics so far in 2021 and a greater use of the option to withdraw cash in shops , outside the ATM network.
This option grew in the second quarter of this year by almost 22.5%, compared to what had been seen in the same period of 2020.
“The
expansionary trend in the use of debit cards over cash
is reconfirmed in this quarter
.
In the second quarter of 2021, of the total volume operated with a debit card, purchases represented 48%, while in the same quarter of 2020 it was 39% ”, explained Ballarino.
The economist Ignacio Carballo agreed that the expansion of the use of debit payments speaks of a new way of buying, where cash begins to lose ground: "The most important thing that the Prisma study leaves behind is the variation in market share. of means of payment of debit and credit cards. Above all, we can see that with respect to the previous study, there is a stabilization of the use of debit card around 45% of payments. That seems to me the most interesting data ".
For Carballo, in order to make the use of cash lose its preponderance in the local economy, "multidimensional incentives are needed. It is necessary to debate above all about taxes related to digital payments," he said.
New forms of consumption
The new normal also impacted the way Argentines use their credit cards.
On the one hand, Prisma reported growth in the last three months in the use of installment payments.
But, although the official programs are the ones that continue to attract more purchases, the terms have changed.
The
Now 3 and Now 6
plans
are the ones with the most significant annual growth,
with jumps of almost 113% and 203% respectively.
Meanwhile, purchases within the Now 12 and Now 18 Programs fall both in the year-on-year comparison and if measured against the previous quarter.
For Carballo: "In the post-pandemic reactivation, consumption patterns changed. In the second quarter of 2020 there was much more consumption of adaptation to the pandemic, of everything necessary to survive at home within the lock-down: from computers to the guys, desks, which are paid in higher installments. Now, you see more consumption in outings and spending on clothes both to go back to work and to go out. "
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