The Monetary Authority of Macao releases today the credit card statistics for the first quarter of 2008. The total number of credit cards in circulation reached 340,043 at the end of March 2008, up 2.3% from the previous quarter. Among this total, the numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 267,430, 64,949 and 7,661 respectively while the number of other foreign currency (OFC) cards stayed constantly at 3. Renminbi (RMB) cards and Pataca (MOP) cards increased by 5.5% and 2.7% respectively whereas Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards edged down marginally by 0.1%. Compared with the same period last year, Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards grew 11.5%, 3.4% and 15.0% respectively. As at the end of March 2008, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP6.0 billion, 2.9% up from end-December 2007. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP0.9 billion while the rollover amount reached MOP0.4 billion, accounting for 44.8% of credit card receivables. Meanwhile, the delinquency ratio stood at 0.34%. In the first quarter of 2008, the credit card turnover totalled MOP1.5 billion, 0.6% up on last quarter. The cash advance turnover amounted to MOP0.1 billion, which accounted for 8.2% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments (including payments for interest and fees) grew by 11.2% from the previous quarter to MOP1.6 billion.
The local merchant turnover, including purchases with credit cards issued domestically and abroad, amounted to MOP9.3 billion in the first quarter of 2008, up 7.7% quarter-to-quarter.
