Cyprus credit card spending falls in Q1

 Credit card spending fell in the first quarter of 2009 according to data from the credit card company JCC.
Local plastic card use by Cyprus residents fell by 1% to EUR 458,968,214 (EUR 458 mln) in the first quarter, having risen by 16% for the whole of 2008.
The fall was steeper in March, when plastic card sales fell by 7% over March 2007 to reach EUR 135.7 mln.
Expenditure by foreigners in Cyprus faired even worse, falling by 13% to EUR 57.2 mln. In 2008 spending by non-residents fell by 3% to EUR 491 mln.
By contrast, expenditure by Cypriots residents abroad is still rising. Residents of Cyprus spent EUR 245.2 mln abroad in the first quarter, a rise of 13% compared with the same period of 2008.

Government accounts for high proportion of spending

Data on merchant turnover show that that the highest proportion of spending (20.4%) was spent in supermarkets.
However, the second highest proportion (16.8%) was spent on government services.
Clothing was third, accounting for 12.4% of purchases, while petrol was fourth, accounting for 5.5% of purchases.