Fewer contactless payments during Level 5 restrictions
The impact of Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions on consumer spending have been revealed in figures released by the Banking and Payments Federation.
Cash withdrawals from ATMs and card spending dropped in October, due to the shutdown of non-essential retail outlets.
However online shopping boomed, with more consumers buying Irish products as a rising number of local businesses sell their wares on websites.
Around €6 billion will be spent by shoppers over the Christmas period, but Retail Excellence Ireland said it will not make up for the losses incurred during the six weeks of Level 5 restrictions.
Figures just released by the Banking and Payments Federation on the usage of contactless payments for October show they slumped to levels not seen since June.
There were nearly two million contactless payments every day, well down on what would normally be expected.
However, people still spent €28 million tapping our cards every day during the month.
The figures released by the federation also reveal that in the two days leading up to the October restrictions being introduced, spending surged by 22% as consumers prepared for the lockdown.
It then reduced in the following five days, down 15.4% week-on-week.
Article Source: Fewer contactless payments during Level 5 restrictions – RTE – Fran McNulty
