Annual credit card spending in Greece 2000-2021, in local currency and USD
penetration of credit cards equaled 25 percent in 2019. However, a relatively high penetration (in the context of the region) was also observed in two of the non-EU economies of the region: Russia and Ukraine. Some other countries are still lagging behind, for example Romania, had a credit card penetration penetration rate of 12 percent as of 2019. Originally denominated in euros, the data was converted to U.S. dollars by Statista to allow for cross-country comparisons worldwide.
The total value of credit card payments in Greece from 2000 to 2020 fluctuated, with an increase over the second half of that period. In 2020, credit card payments in Greece reached a total value of approximately 5.2 billion euros. This is a strong increase when compared to the 4.2 billion euros reached in 2015. For many markets in Central and Eastern Europe, the regulatory and financial support afforded by the European Union membership provided strong potential for sustained growth in the credit card market. For example, for Czechia, the