Kuwait’s Instant Transfers Carried 1.57 Times the Value of Card Terminals in July
Payments through Kuwait’s instant transfer service reached 1,068.1 million dinars in July, against 678.7 million through point of sale terminals, on the central bank’s own monthly series.
Across the first seven months of the year the service carried 6.63 billion dinars and 102.0 million transactions, on our calculation from that series, which works out at about 481,000 transactions a day.
Three channels, three different jobs
| July 2026 | Value, million dinars | Transactions, thousands | Average transaction, dinars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash machines | 1,308.5 | 27,404.6 | 47.75 |
| Instant payments | 1,068.1 | 16,436.4 | 64.98 |
| Point of sale | 678.7 | 5,040.4 | 134.65 |
Values and transaction counts as the central bank publishes them. Average transaction values are on our calculation. These are three of the channels in the bank’s table and not the whole of Kuwaiti payments.
In July the instant service moved 1.57 times the value that passed through card terminals and 81.6 percent of the value withdrawn from cash machines, both on our calculation, and it carried 35.0 percent of the 3.06 billion dinars that moved through the three channels that month.
The average transaction places it between the two. At about 65 dinars it is larger than a cash withdrawal at about 48 and smaller than a card purchase at about 135. That is a position in the range and nothing more: transaction size alone cannot establish what the service is used for, and the bank’s table does not show whether the other channels are losing volume, so nothing here establishes what it is displacing.
Growth through the year is steady rather than explosive
Monthly value rose from 896.6 million dinars in January to 1,068.1 million in July, a rise of 19.1 percent, while transactions rose 21.3 percent, both on our calculation. Because transactions grew faster than value, the average payment fell from about 66 dinars in January to about 65 in July, also on our calculation.
The service began in June 2024, which the bank notes in its own footnote to the table.
For scale, narrow money stood at 10,902.5 million dinars in July and broad money at 42,842.5 million. The seven month flow through the service is about 61 percent of the July narrow money stock on our calculation, although a flow and a stock are different measures and this is an indication of size rather than a ratio that means anything on its own.
Why it matters: In a single month a service that did not exist before June 2024 carried more than one and a half times the value of every card terminal payment in the country. That is a change in the plumbing of a Gulf economy, and the central bank’s own table is where it shows, not in any announcement.
Outlook: The August table comes with the next statistical release. The gap to cash machine value is 240.4 million dinars, which the instant service would have to grow 22.5 percent to close, on our calculation. The second line to watch is the average payment, which has drifted down all year: if it keeps falling the service is reaching everyday purchases rather than transfers between people.
Sources: Central Bank of Kuwait.
