Cyprus credit card spending rises 16% on road tax renewals

Plastic card spending in Cyprus soared again in February but mainly as a result of road tax payments.
According to the latest figures from the credit card company, JCC Payment Systems Ltd, spending rose by 16% over the year earlier to EUR 181,939,512 (EUR 181.9 mln), compared with EUR 156.2 mln in February 2010.
In the first two months of the year plastic card spending rose by 14% compared with the same period of the previous year to EUR 363.0 mln. The average spend per transaction was EUR 75.
JCC noted that the figures for January and February were affected by road tax renewals, which can now be paid online directly via JCC as well as via other online services.
This could also explain the fairly large increase for spending in Cyprus by cards issued abroad, which rose by 12% to EUR 40.0 mln in the first two months.
Spending abroad remained healthy, with the data showing that spending abroad using cards issued in Cyprus rose by 9% to EUR 199.3 mln in January-February. JCC notes that this also includes spending on websites located abroad.

Fiona Mullen
www.sapientaeconomics.com