Cyprus credit card spending falls in January-May

Credit card spending fell in the first five months of 2009 according to data from the credit card company JCC.
Local plastic card use by Cyprus residents fell by 2% to EUR 745,743,444 (EUR 746 mln) in the January-May, having risen by 16% for the whole of 2008.
In May alone, sales fell year on year by 4% to EUR 142.9 mln.
Expenditure by foreigners in Cyprus continued to fair badly, falling year on year by 20% in the first four months to EUR 129.8 mln and also by 20% in May alone. In 2008 spending by non-residents fell by 3% to EUR 491 mln.
By contrast, expenditure by Cypriots residents abroad is still rising. Residents of Cyprus spent EUR 412.5.1 mln abroad in the January-May, a rise of 11% compared with the same period of 2008.

Supermarkets are the most popular for cards

Data on merchant turnover show that that the highest proportion of spending volumes in the southern part of Cyprus during January-May (20.5%) was spent in supermarkets.
The second highest proportion (13.7%) was spent on clothing, while “other retailers” came third at 11.1%.