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Consumption boost in 2015

18/01/2016 06:59
A healthy growth in the main retail sectors of the economy is evident in the purchases performed through credit cards suggesting that consumption in general is gradually peaking up.

Detailed data released by JCC and analysed by StockWatch, shows that most of the largest categories as classified by JCC, exhibited remarkable increases during 2015 in comparison to 2014.

The analysis includes the 24 largest such categories out of a total of 37, which in terms of value they represent about 98% of total value of transactions done by credit cards domestically and include both residents and foreigners.

At the top of the list are the categories of other food and drink shops and insurances which showed a 17,5% and 17,3% growth rates respectively.

Significant increases besides other food and drink shops are witnessed in the whole spectrum of tourism-related categories like travel agents (11%), hotels (9%) and restaurants (8,1%).

This is in line with the latest announced tourism receipts during the first ten months of 2015 which exhibited an increase of 3,3%, while at the same time Cypriots seemed to prefer domestic holidays at the expense of holidays abroad.

The supermarkets category which is by far the largest representing about 19% of all credit card expenses, increased to €554,5 mn from €530,5 mn, a 4,5% growth.

Government related expenses rebounded during the last couple of months most probably due to payment of property tax, eventually showing a 7,7% increase for the whole year.

The category of clothing and shoes which is more representative of the overall retail trend and constitutes the third largest, increased to €288,6 mn from €276,2 mn, a 4,5% growth.

As expected, the biggest decrease is evidenced in the petrol category (-9,1%) due to the significant decline in the prices of fuels.

The total credit card payments performed in the market by residents and tourists, reached during 2015 €2.993 mn compared to €2.878 in 2014, a 4% increase.

Excluding petrol the overall figure stands at €2.813 mn from €2.680 mn in 2014, a 5% growth.