SLOVAK holders of MasterCard, MasterCard Electronic, and Maestro credit cards carried out more than 11 million transactions worth $620 million (€489.5 million) in the third quarter of 2003.
The private SITA news agency wrote on January 14 that the majority of transactions - 10 million - were carried out with Maestro cards, up 11 percent year-on-year.
There was a 54 percent year-on-year increase in MasterCard transactions, reaching 990,000 in the third quarter of 2003.
Ján Čarný, Slovakia's director general of MasterCard Europe, said that the increased number of transactions was largely related to the expanding network of shops that accept payment with the cards. At the end of the third quarter of 2003, MasterCard holders could make purchases in 11,000 shops, while Maestro and MasterCard Electronic were accepted in 18,800 shops.
The number of cards issued by MasterCard Europe in Slovakia went up to 1.76 million.
