Internet banking soars in Cyprus

E-commerce rises steadily

 

Latest data on the use of information technology in Cyprus show that the proportion of individuals using internet banking almost doubled in the space of a year, from 17.9% to 31.3% of those surveyed.

The results come from the ‘Information and Communication Technologies Usage in Households’ annual survey, conducted by the Statistical Service.

The data also show a rising proportion of individuals interacting with the public authorities, from 35.3% in 2006 to 48.3% in 2007. In the past year the government has introduced online payments for municipal taxes and online tax returns.

 

Travel dominates e-commerce

At the same time, the number of individuals using the internet for purchasing private goods and services is also slowly rising, from 6.7% in 2006 to 7.8% in 2007.

Travel and accommodation was by far the most popular of the goods and services purchased, at 37.6% of the total, up from 25.7% in 2006.

This was followed by books, magazines, newspapers and e-learning materials, at 33.6%; clothes and sports goods, at 29.1%; and films and music at 23.6%.

This trend has been helped by an increase in the number of households with a broadband connection, which exceeded 50% for the first time in 2007.

 

Using a computer

Other data show that the percentage of households that have a computer was 52.9% in 2007 and the percentage of households with Internet access from home was 38.9%.

The percentage of individuals aged 16-74 year who had used a computer during the first quarter 2007 was 47.0%, while the percentage of individuals who had used the Internet was 38.1%.

 

Only 53% of enterprises have a website

 

Separately, the survey on ‘Information and Communication Technologies Usage and E-Commerce in Enterprises’ showed that the percentage of enterprises that used a computer during January 2007 was 94.5%.

All large enterprises (250 employees or more) and almost all medium size enterprises (50-249 employees) used computers and the internet.

In small enterprises (10-49 employees) there was an increase in Internet usage from 83.7% in 2006 to 85.9% in 2007.

However, only 53% of enterprises had a website. Even among large enterprises, it was a little short of 100%, at 92.9%.

 

Fiona Mullen