Between November 25 and December 29, over 40 million withdrawals were made from the nation’s ATMs as Portuguese shoppers withdrew €2.77 billion in cash as part of a €6 billion Christmas spending spree.
The data released by SIBS, the company that manages the ATM network, shows also that in the same period 78.9 million payments were made with a total value of €3.301 billion.
The day with the most withdrawals from ATMs was Monday 23rd of December when nearly 1.7 people withdrew money. This is down on last year when the best day saw 1.8 million withdrawals in a single day.
According to SIBS the day with the most purchases via the ATM network was the 23rd with 3.8 million transactions. This is up on last year 3.4 million purchases in a single day.
Comparing the figures for December this year compared to 2012, the number of transactions was up 10% and the amount spent was up 11% giving some much needed liquidity to the retail sector.
Also comparing the peak day in December this year with the peak day in 2012, there was a 52% growth in the number of online purchases.
