Plastic card spending by Turkish Cypriots south of the Green Line slowed in March, according to the latest data from JCC Payment Systems.
Spending in the south using cards issued by Turkish banks rose by 12.9% over the year earlier to EUR 1.41 mln, compared with an increase of 24.5% in February, when monthly spending reached EUR 1.47 mln.
Spending for the first three months rose by 14.5% to EUR 4.26 mln, compared with EUR 3.72 mln in the same period of 2010.
Of this total, EUR 968,003 in the first quarter was spent on supermarkets and EUR 732,389 went on clothing and EUR 724,954 o “other retailers”.
Turkish Cypriots are reportedly attracted by a wider range of choice and lower prices for many goods.
Owing to the non-recognition of the north and its ports, as well as high import taxes, imports to northern Cyprus carry a premium.
Spending in Turkey and north rises just 0.1% in March
Meanwhile, card spending by Greek Cypriots in northern Cyprus and Turkey rose by just 0.1% in March, to EUR 821,391, compared with an increase of 8.1% in February.
There is no strict comparison with 2010, because JCC has regrouped the data so that all spending in Turkey is shown in one place, instead of grouping Attaleia (Antalya) with “Occupied Areas and Attaleia”.
However, if one assumes that spending in the north on entertainment largely reflects spending in casinos, which are banned both in the south and in Turkey, then there appears to have been a continuation of the decline witnessed in 2010.
Entertainment spending in “Occupied Areas” was EUR 118,468 in March 2011, with 585 transactions, compared with spending of EUR 207,262 and 708 transactions in “Occupied Areas and Attaleia” in March 2010.
In 2010 entertainment spending in “Occupied Areas and Attaleia” fell by 50.9% compared with the year earlier, even while other spending rose.
For the first quarter of the year, card spending in the north alone reached EUR 1.35 mln.
The biggest expenditure in the north is now on hotels, with spending of EUR 533,594 in the first quarter.
Very little, just EUR 13, was spent on by credit card on food and drink.
Fiona Mullen
www.sapientaeconomics.com
