US Visa card company recorded its best performance ever in the Gulf markets as Saudi Arabia led the way with card expenditure totaling $11.65 billion, reported the Gulf News Tuesday.
The kingdom was the biggest market in terms of cardholder expenditure among Visa's Central Europe, Middle East and Africa markets, said the paper.
The number of cards in circulation in Saudi Arabia at the end of last year were 1.7 billion.
"Our direct presence in the market with the opening of the representative office in Riyadh has fostered closer relationships with our members," said Rob Clark, vice-president responsible for Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the paper said that card expenditure in Oman was up 132 percent to $704 million and the number of cards in circulation rose 90 percent to 296,000. “This made Oman the fastest growing market in the region,” said Clark.
In the UAE, card usage resulted in expenditure of $4.02 billion and a growth of 7 percent, the paper added.
The number of cards in circulation totaled almost one million.
Bahrain witnessed 30 percent growth in card numbers to 155,175 and expenditure of $495.4 million, it added – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
