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Article: Explosion in popularity of credit cards in the Middle East.(growth in the credit card industry)
- Article from:
- Middle East
- Article date:
- June 18, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Al Bawaba (Middle East) Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The total number of credit cards in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region jumped by 24 percent in 2006 to 6.23 million, according to new research from Lafferty Group, a UK-based retail banking and cards research house.
Lafferty Group forecasts that the number of credit cards in circulation will rise by a further 51 percent by 2008, dwarfing growth in most other regions of the world. Of the 12 markets analysed by Lafferty Group, Jordan saw the highest growth, with credit card numbers jumping by 61 percent to almost 275,000. Tunisia had the second highest growth, up 55 percent to 55,000.
"We are witnessing incredible growth in the region, albeit ...