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The Qatar Central Bank reported that various payment systems handled 70.964 million transactions worth QR150.910 billion in March 2026. This marked a 23 percent increase from 57.930 million transactions in March 2025 while the value more than doubled with a 128 percent surge from QR66.098 billion a year earlier. Card payments accounted for 87.2 percent of transaction volume though that share had eased from 94.2 percent the previous year as transfer systems expanded their portion to 12.8 percent. QCB figures further placed transfers at 83.6 percent of total value up from 61.7 percent in the prior March.
Card transactions reached 61.868 million with a combined value of QR24.767 billion during the month. Point-of-sale operations rose to 42.639 million from 38.826 million while e-commerce activity climbed to 13.490 million from 9.555 million. ATM transactions slipped to 5.739 million from 6.175 million even as the overall card payment value edged down 2 percent according to the regulator’s statistics.
Instant transfer services through Qatar Mobile Payment saw their processed value reach QR488.645 million. That total reflected a 124 percent increase from QR218.013 million with transaction numbers advancing 176 percent to 693,350 from 251,079. Registered digital wallets expanded to 1.367 million as the central bank continued expanding real-time payment infrastructure.
The Fawran instant payment service recorded 3.478 million transactions valued at QR5.895 billion alongside 3.765 million registered accounts. Tahweel inter-bank transfers surged with value climbing 212 percent to QR119.759 billion and volume rising 189 percent to 4.925 million. These patterns illustrated a broader shift toward high-value account-to-account movements that now dominate in monetary terms even if cards retain everyday usage.
Mordor Intelligence projected the Qatar payments market to grow from USD 7.95 billion in 2026 at a compound annual growth rate of 11.73 percent to reach USD 13.84 billion by 2031. The research firm attributed the outlook to accelerating digital adoption and infrastructure upgrades that align with the March performance. QCB data has consistently shown similar momentum across both consumer and business channels in recent reporting periods.
Subsequent central bank statistics indicated the upward trend continued into April 2026 with 73.533 million transactions. That figure represented a 29 percent increase from the corresponding month in 2025. The sustained expansion points to deepening integration of digital tools throughout the Qatari economy.
