Cyprus credit card spending falls in January-April

Credit card spending fell in the first four months of 2009 according to data from the credit card company JCC.
Local plastic card use by Cyprus residents fell by 1% to EUR 602,847,795 (EUR 603 mln) in the January-April, having risen by 16% for the whole of 2008.
However, one glimmer of hope was that the fall was less steep in April than in March. In April alone, sales fell year on year by 3% to EUR 144 mln, whereas they had fallen by 7% in March.
Expenditure by foreigners in Cyprus continued to fair badly, falling year on year by 20% in the first four months to EUR 88.6 mln and by 11% in April alone. 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 326.1 mln abroad in the first quarter, a rise of 12% 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 in the southern part of Cyprus during January-April (20.4%) was spent in supermarkets.
The second highest proportion (13.5%) was spent on government services.
Government services came third, accounting for 13.2% of purchases.