Covid-19 causes unprecedented reduction in cheque, card payments

  • Lusa
  • 25 May 2020

Bank of Portugal reports an "unprecedented reduction in the use of cheques and card payments" in April, the month in which cash withdrawals set a 20-year minimum.

Portugal’s central bank confirmed on Monday the “unprecedented” reduction in the use of cheques and card transactions in April, following the state of emergency and the containment measures adopted to combat the spread of Covid-19.

“While in March 2020 there had already been a strong decrease in card transactions, in addition to a reinforcement of this trend, there was a significant decrease in the remaining payment instruments, especially cheques”, according to data released today by the Bank of Portugal (BdP).

The drastic reduction in economic activity and the preference for the use of payment instruments requiring less physical contact contributed to these figures, which correspond to the lowest quantity and value recorded over the last 20 years in operations with cheques.