According to data from Shebaa – Automatic Banking Services, director of the national credit card payment system, the Israeli economy recovered quickly from the effects of the Omicron wave in January and already during February there was a 4.3% increase in average daily credit card expenditure, which stood at NIS 1.136 billion. NIS 1 billion in January 2022. The peak amount in the daily expenditure on credit cards was recorded in November 2021 and stood at NIS 1.205 billion.
Expenditure in February 2022 is high compared to the data of February 2021, during which the third closure took place and restrictions were imposed on economic activity due to the corona crisis. Total expenses on credit cards in February 2022 amounted to NIS 31,799 billion, an increase of 16.7% compared to the total amount of expenses in February 2021, which was NIS 27.244 billion.
Expenditure on physical transactions increased in February 2022. The average daily expenditure on physical transactions was NIS 469.423 million, compared with an average daily amount of NIS 430.410 million in physical transactions in January 2022, an increase of 9.1%. Total expenses in physical transactions in February 2022 amounted to NIS 13,144 billion, an increase of 20.3% compared to February 2021, when total expenses in physical transactions amounted to NIS 10,929 billion. The average daily expenditure on online transactions in February 2022 was NIS 666,246 million and was 1.2% higher than in January 2022, during which the average daily expenditure on online transactions was NIS 658,666 million. Total online expenses in February 2022 amounted to NIS 18,655 billion, an increase of 14.3% compared to February 2021.
An increase of 10.6% was recorded in February 2022 in the volume of cash withdrawals from ATMs. The average daily withdrawal amount reached NIS 165,346 million compared to an average daily withdrawal volume of NIS 149.558 million in January 2022. The total amount of cash withdrawals from bank ATMs was NIS 4.63 billion in February 2022, an increase of 7.4% compared to February 2021 when the amount of cash withdrawals reached To NIS 4.312 billion.
Eitan Lev Tov, CEO of Sheba: ‘For the fifth time, during the period of the corona crisis, we saw in February how the economy is recovering rapidly from a period of declining business activity against the background of an increase in morbidity. The increase in spending on physical transactions indicates that the Israeli public returned to malls, shopping centers, restaurants and markets during February. “