Dutch motorists filled up their cars more often in Belgium and Germany in the first half of 2026 than in the same period last year. This is revealed by card payment data, which DNB is publishing in this format for the first time.
© ANP
The number of card transactions at both attended and unattended petrol stations in Germany and Belgium rose by 20% to over 25 million. The total amount spent using debit and credit cards rose by 32% to approximately €1.5 billion. This also includes other spending at petrol stations, such as on refreshments and electric vehicle charging.
At De Nederlandsche Bank, we independently compile statistics on the Dutch financial sector and economy. This article is based on these statistics. More information on our statistics and all dashboards can be found on our Statistics homepage.
By contrast, the number of transactions at petrol stations in the Netherlands fell by 3% in the first half of 2026 compared with a year earlier, to 187 million. The total amount spent rose by 4% to €6.6 billion, however, possibly due to higher fuel prices.
The figures do not show why Dutch cardholders paid at petrol stations across the border more often, although price differences were likely a factor. For example, at times the average prices for both petrol and diesel were higher by 20 cents or more per litre in the Netherlands than in neighbouring countries. However, travel patterns and other spending at petrol stations may also have had an impact.
DNB is publishing new tables and a dashboard on card payments today. The data relates to spending using debit and credit cards, broken down by spending category and country.
It provides an insight into spending by sector, based on Merchant Category Codes (MCC). This shows, for example, how often card payments are made at places such as petrol stations, restaurants and supermarkets. The data is also broken down by the countries in which card payments are made.
The data relates to card payments (including online payments) made using a debit or credit card issued by Dutch payment service providers, such as banks, payment institutions and electronic money institutions.
The increase was greatest in Belgium in the first half of the year. There, the number of transactions at petrol stations rose by 33% to 11.3 million, with total spending of €593.6 million. In Germany, the number of transactions rose by 11% to 14.2 million, with total spending of €872.4 million.
Incidentally, in the third quarter (and therefore the second half of the year), the number of payments made by Dutch motorists at petrol stations abroad is usually higher because of the summer holidays.
In total, €8.5 billion in card payments were made at petrol stations in the Netherlands and abroad in the first half of 2026 using cards issued by Dutch payment service providers. This makes petrol stations the second-largest sector (based on Merchant Category Codes), measured by the value of card payments. In both the first half of 2025 and 2026, this accounted for around 8% of total card spending.
In the first half of 2026, spending in supermarkets was almost three times as high as at petrol stations: €24.2 billion. This also includes online orders paid for by debit or credit card. It is also notable that the number of payments in German supermarkets has more than doubled in recent years (+108% compared with the first half of 2022), reaching 14.5 million transactions.
After supermarkets and petrol stations, the largest amounts in the first half of this year were spent on restaurants, accommodation (hotels, resorts and motels) and fast food.
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