The total number of personal credit cards issued by banks in Macau continued to rise in the first quarter, but both credit card turnover and repayments recorded year-on-year declines, the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM) said in a statement today.
Macau’s economy has been severely affected by the COVID-19 epidemic since late January.
The total number of personal credit cards issued by banks in Macau stood at 1.44 million at the end of March, an increase of 1.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 8.3 per cent year-on-year.
The number of pataca, Hong Kong dollar and yuan cards increased 7.4 per cent, 3.2 per cent and 12.8 per cent year-on-year respectively.
The credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macau reached MOP 40.9 billion (US$5.1 billion) at the end of March, up by 3.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 9.8 per cent year-on-year.
The credit card receivables at the end of March amounted to MOP 2.2 billion, of which rollover represented 39.4 per cent of credit card receivables.
The delinquency ratio, i.e. the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, rose 0.9 percentage points to 2.5 per cent when compared with the end of last year.
In the first quarter, credit card turnover totalled MOP 4.6 billion, a drop of 27.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 19.0 per cent year-on-year.
Credit card repayments, including payments for interest and fees, decreased 11.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 9.6 per cent year-on-year to MOP 5.5 billion in the first quarter.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
