Plastic money use rises 5% in August 2015

Cypriot credit card holders spent €178.4m for purchases in August 2015, which is 5% higher compared to what the spent a year before, JCC Payment Systems said.

In January to August, overall spending with the use of plastic money rose 4% to below €1.5 billion compared to the respective period of 2014, JCC said in an emailed statement.

In August, Cypriots spent €101.1 million or 3% more compared to last year’s August, while in the first eight months of the year, the amount fell an annual 1% to €769 million, JCC said.

The purchases of Turkish Cypriot credit card holders in the government controlled areas rose 3% in August and 13% in January to August to €81.5 million and €455.1 million respectively compared to a year before, JCC said.

In separate statement, JCC said that holders of local credit cards spent less than €0.6 million for purchases in the Turkish held areas of Cyprus and more than €0.6 million in Turkey in August. In January to August, the respective amounts were €4.4 million and €3.4 million.

Source: Cyprus Mail