Since the start of the health crisis, the Overseas Departments Issuing Institute has noted an acceleration in the growth in the use of bank cards, in an island whose inhabitants favor cash payments and withdraw twice as many banknotes from ATMs as the French average. And, in a city, cash payments fell by a third between 2012 and 2019, ticket entries in Reunion Island fell by only 5% between 2015 and 2019. But in 2020, banknote payments to Iédom decreased by 9%, while the drop in household consumption was limited to 1,6%. The Covid-19 pandemic and the fear of contamination by hands have visibly contributed to the development of electronic payment methods, especially since the ceiling for contactless payments has been raised to 50 euros. Trend confirmed in 2021 : over the first seven months of the year, bank card transactions increased by 7% compared to 2019 and banknote payments to Iédom fell by 7,3%.
