Cyprus credit card spending leaps 5% y/y in July

Credit card spending by locals leapt in July according to data from the credit card company JCC.
Local plastic card use by Cyprus residents increased by 5% over the year earlier to EUR 179,407,869 (EUR 179 mln) in July, having also risen by just 1% in both May and June.
In the period January-July, credit card spending by locals was up by 2% to EUR 1.1 bln. Local card spending fell by 3% for the whole of 2009.
Expenditure by foreigners in Cyprus jumped by rose by 6% to EUR 50.5 mln in July, having risen by 3% in June.
For the first seven months of the year, spending by foreigners was up by 4%.
In 2009 spending by non-residents had fallen by 16% to EUR 412 mln.
Expenditure abroad by Cypriot residents continues to record an increase.
Residents of Cyprus spent EUR 657.6 mln abroad in the first seven months of the year quarter, a rise of 13% compared with the same period of 2009.

Most credit card spending goes on supermarkets

Meanwhile, data on merchant turnover show that that by far the highest proportion of spending in January-July (20.4% of sales volume) was spent in supermarkets.
The second highest proportion (12.3%) was spent on clothing.
The broad category of “other retailers” was next with 11.6% and the government was fourth with 9.4%.