BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, December 27. The number of UnionPay International cards in circulation in Kyrgyzstan amounted to 21,302 as of September 30, 2023, which is 3 percent less than the count on the same date in 2022 (21,984 cards), Trend reports.
Data from the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan indicates that the share of UnionPay International cards in the total number of cards in circulation was 0.34 percent, while it accounted for 0.5 percent at the end of September 2022.
The city of Bishkek has the most UnionPay International cards (18,193), while the Batken district had the fewest (56 cards).
The total number of bank cards in circulation in Kyrgyzstan reached 6.344 million cards as of September 30, 2023, which is a 36-percent increase compared to the same period last year.
Of these cards, 3.220 million belonged to the Elkart national payment system, accounting for 50.8 percent of the total. Specifically, 3.215 million cards (50.7 percent) belonged to Elkart, and 4,903 cards (0.1 percent) to Elkart-UPI.
Meanwhile, international payment systems accounted for 3.123 million cards (49.2 percent), which included VISA (46.61 percent), Mastercard (0.83 percent), Russian Zolotaya Korona (1.5 percent), and UnionPay International (0.34 percent).