Credit spree could double on last year

CYPRIOTS are likely to continue their credit card spree in the lead-up to New Year celebrations, in the wake of record numbers of pre-Christmas credit card transactions, said JCC Visa and Mastercard Acquirers director, Achilleas Amvrosiou yesterday.

“A lot of presents are bought for New Year” he said, adding this was because older people abided by the traditional date for the delivery of gifts – January 1.

Based on data available so far, Amvrosiou predicted a 70 to 100 per cent increase in credit card transactions compared to last year’s pre-New Year purchases.

The weekend before Christmas this year saw record numbers of credit card transactions, Amvrosiou said, amounting to £3.4 million. This marked a 70 per cent increase on the same time last year, Amvrosiou said, adding that December 20 to 22 always had the highest number of yearly credit card sales.

But he pointed out that, despite the convenience of credit cards, “cash was still king” and Cypriots still had some way to go before their use of plastic matched that in other European countries.

“It [use of credit cards] is definitely less than five per cent of personal consumer expenditure in Cyprus” he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.