Cyprus local credit card purchases up by 16% in 2007

Spending abroad accelerates

Cypriot credit card spending at home rose by 16% to reach CYP 895 mln in 2007, according to the latest figures from the credit card monopoly, JCC, while expenditure by Cypriots abroad rose by 32% to reach CYP 297.1 mln.

Much of the increase in credit card expenditure by Cypriots can be explained by an increase in the number of transactions, rather than the value. While the average value of transactions rose by only 4.9% from CYP 41 to CYP 42, the average number of transactions rose by 10% to reach 20.5 million.

The figures shows that the average credit card purchase by Cypriots abroad is rather higher than at home, averaging CYP 92 in both 2006 and 2007.

Credit card expenditure by tourists in Cyprus rose by 6% in 2007 to reach CYP 271.2 mln. The average expenditure was higher than for locals at CYP 87, compared with CYP 86 in 2006 but the number of transactions rose by a moderate 5%.

Although JCC does not provide data for total credit card spending in 2006 or 2007, one can infer from the data that total credit card spending in Cyprus amounted to just over CYP 1,265 million in 2007, a rise of 13.5% on the estimated CYP 1,027 million spent in 2006.

Fiona Mullen