CYPRIOTS have spent £222.7 million on their credit and debit cards in the first four months of the year.
According to the latest statistics from credit card management company JCC Payment Systems, the figures from January to April 2006 are up by 14 per cent compared to the same period last year. They amount to just over 5.5 million transactions, an increase of 12 per cent.
April alone saw a seven per cent increase from April 2005, with £60.6 million spent over 1.4 million transactions.
The average transaction amounts to £40, the figure remaining unchanged from last year.
Cypriots abroad are even bigger spenders, putting £66.5 million on their cards during the first four months of this year, 25 per cent more than for the same period last year. This number of transactions stood at 719,472, up 27 per cent on 2005.
The average transaction of a Cypriot shopping abroad comes to £92.
Tourists coming to Cyprus have so far spent £54.2 million on the island up to the period April 30, 2006, an increase of seven per cent on last year. The average transaction amounts to £83.
JCC’s General Manager Takis Fekkos said: “We noticed the figures starting to go up towards the end of last year and they have since increased rapidly. Why? We don’t know, but they are surprising.
“What we do know is that Cypriots tend to travel overseas pretty frequently.”
When asked how much of the £222.7 million was made up of credit, Fekkos said it was very difficult to tell. “We would need to check each individual card and the banks themselves don’t release this kind of information.
“We don’t simply get a figure for credit cards and another one for debit cards and then add the two of them together. That’s not how it’s calculated.”
Upon hearing the figures, Consumers’ Association President, Petros Marcou yesterday urged consumers to, “plan their spending and holidays according to family budgets. We are against over-consumption and over-spending, and consumers must keep in mind that plastic money is good and convenient, but needs to be paid back.”
He added that, “people must be aware of credit card interest rates, which are normally set at a minimum of 12 per cent. Late payments, however, mean these can rise to as high as 36 per cent. Therefore, we ask consumers to think and be properly informed when using their cards. They must be careful not to overstretch themselves.”
Personal shopper Lisa Antoniadou gave her thoughts on the statistics. “In Cyprus there is a reason for this over-spending. People here are obsessed with buying expensive, material possessions, whether it’s clothing, home accessories or cars. It’s clearly a matter of vanity and because Cyprus is such a small island it’s always a race between people as to who’s got the best of anything. You never see a typical Cypriot going into a £1 shop. This is totally wrong.”
Experts, however, point to the fact that Cyprus was late jumping on the plastic bandwagon, with an economy until very recently dominated by cash. Now that it is catching up, the increased use appears dramatic, as more and more people use cards for even the simplest of transactions.
