1.1 million VISA cards issued in Azerbaijan

VISA International manager for CIS countries, Svetlana Geobelidze, told APA-Economics that this figure represents a 71% increase from a year earlier.

VISA International has 20 bank members in Azerbaijan (8 principal and 12 associative members). The amount of payment through plastic cards was $998 million in Azerbaijan during 2006, up 116% from a year earlier.

The manager said that Azerbaijan is the fifth for the number of cardholders among the Commonwealth of Independent States (former soviet republics) after Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus and will continue to consolidate its position.

Georgia is the sixth with 771,000 cardholders ($700 million in 2006) and Armenia is the ninth with 85,000 cards ($144 million in 2006).

Svetlana Geobelidze added that there are POS terminals in 1,703 trade outlets in Azerbaijan and this number reached 1,616 in Georgia. APA-Economics