Annual payment card transaction volume in GBP and USD in the UK 2009-2020
Card transactions by UK cardholders both in the UK and overseas were significantly lower in 2020 than in previous years, likely due to the COVID-19. Having grown for several years in a row, the pandemic caused card spending to decline by 15 percent as the source observed that declines occurred in early 2021 as well as late 2021 - probably around the time that lockdowns were in effect in the United Kingdom.