Credit card spending in July returned to growth after a four-month negative trend, due to tax payments and a recovering demand for domestic travel, Financial Supervisory Commission data showed.
Credit card spending jumped 29.5 percent to NT$362.6 billion (US$12.289 billion) from a year earlier, hitting a high for the month, the data showed.
After retreating for four consecutive months year-on-year, spending rebounded as many consumers in June paid their taxes by credit card, which was contributed to July’s statistics, the commission said.
The Ministry of Finance delayed the tax payment deadline by about a month until June 30 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The commission estimated that tax payments by credit card in July stood at NT$108.5 billion, which accounted for 86 percent of a monthly gain of NT$125.5 billion in credit card spending, the data showed.
Meanwhile, spending at restaurants, at hotels and on travel expenses rose by NT$7.6 billion from a month earlier, the data showed.
However, the spending uptick could not offset its previous dip, with cumulative credit card spending at NT$1.74 trillion for the first seven months, down 9 percent year-on-year, the data showed.
CTBC Bank (中信銀行), the nation’s largest card issuer, reported credit card spending of NT$69.9 billion, ranking first among all banks, followed by E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) with NT$60.6 billion and Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) with NT$50.4 billion, the data showed.
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