JERUSALEM, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The number of credit card transactions made abroad by Israelis rose to 22 million in the first quarter of 2018, up 27 percent from 2017, according to data published by the Bank of Israel on Monday.

A larger increase of 36 percent was recorded in the number of Israeli transactions without card presentation, reaching 17.4 million, mainly for purchases on international shopping websites.

The volume of overseas transactions totalled 6.1 billion new shekels (1.67 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, an increase of 21 percent compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, online transactions represent 80 percent of the total foreign transactions made by Israelis, compared with 74 percent in 2017.

By the end of March, Israelis held 10.84 million credit cards, of which 8.5 million were international cards enabling purchases abroad.

In 2017, 83 million transactions were concluded with Israeli credit cards abroad, with a value of 24 billion new shekels, a 450-percent increase in the number of transactions and 220-percent increase in value within seven years.