Irish credit card spend up for first time in four years

Irish consumers spent more money using credit cards in July than in the same month in 2011, the first year-on-year increase for four years and a potential sign that some stabilisation may be on the way for the battered domestic economy.
Ireland is at the very early stages of emerging from one of Europe's deepest recessions but that is thanks chiefly to its resilient export sector as consumer spending continues to shrink due to high unemployment and unprecedented government austerity.
As a result there are over 10 percent fewer credit cards in issue than there were three years ago and while outstanding debt on those cards remains high, personal credit card spend rose 5 percent to 790 million euros ($987 million) last month, according to figures from the Irish central bank. With export growth alone not enough to help the government eat into a debt pile set to peak at around 120 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year, it desperately needs consumer spending to stop a fall that began in 2008.