MasterCard said it has registered a 20.1 per cent growth in gross dollar volume during the first quarter of this year in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region.

Announcing the results, the company said the region witnessed a 21.6 per cent jump in purchase volume, 16.5 per cent in purchase transactions, 18.8 per cent in cash transactions and 10.9 per cent in cards issued against the same period last year.

More than 303 million cards had been issued by MasterCard customer financial institutions across the region.

Cardholders in the region made 1.29 billion purchase transactions in the first quarter and could use their cards at 32.2 million acceptance locations worldwide.

"Our first quarter is a strong start to this year with solid gains in the areas of credit, debit and commercial cards. Our results demonstrate the strength of our business and the continuing growth in the payments industry," said MasterCard Worldwide Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa president Vicky Bindra.

"As MasterCard continues to look for ways to replace cash, we will work closely with our bank, merchant and other payment partners to leverage new technologies and innovative payment methods that effectively meet the needs of consumers," Bindra added.-TradeArabia News Service