Cyprus credit card spending falls 3% in January-September

Local credit card spending in the Republic of Cyprus fell by 3% compared with the year earlier in the first eight months of 2009, according to data from the credit card company JCC.
Local plastic card use by Cyprus residents was EUR 1,361,189,668 (EUR 1.4 bln) in January-September, having risen by 16% for the whole of 2008.
In September alone, sales fell year on year by 6% to EUR 140.7 mln, having fallen by 5% in August and 3% in July. Thus, the pace of decrease appears to be accelerating.
Expenditure by foreigners in Cyprus has fallen in line with dropping tourist arrivals. Spending with non-Cyprus cards fell year on year by 17% in the first nine months to EUR 319.9 mln, the same fall recorded in January-August. In 2008 spending by non-residents fell by only 3% to EUR 491 mln.
The picture continues to be more buoyant for Cypriot spending abroad. Residents of Cyprus spent EUR 761.3 mln abroad in January-September, a rise of 8% compared with the same period of 2008, although this was slightly lower than the 9% recorded in January-August and the 10% recorded in January-July.

Meanwhile, data on merchant turnover show that that the highest proportion of spending volumes in the southern part of Cyprus during January-September (20.0%) was spent in supermarkets.
The second highest proportion (13.1%) was spent on clothing, while non-specified retailers were third at 11.8%.