Families spent $ 7 billion in December – Daily News – Lisbon

Hotels, restaurants and fuel stations are among the establishments with the largest growth compared to the previous year.

Between withdrawals and payments, the Portuguese spent 6942 million euros in the last Christmas and New Year. Data released yesterday confirmed a return to pre-crisis, as anticipated, and more a sign of the improving confidence of consumers, which the National Institute of Statistics (INE) has also revealed.

yesterday, the statistics office national has confirmed that in December consumer confidence rose for the fourth consecutive month to reach the highest value in 16 years.

This evolution was mainly due to the positive contribution of the perspectives regarding the evolution of the unemployment and of the expectations regarding the economic situation of the country”, said the INE. Have been also one of the reasons for that between 28 November and 1 January 2017, the Multibanco network has registered 41.8 million of withdrawals and 101.3 million of payments in the store. The operations grew 8%; the value rose almost in the same proportion (7,8%). This reflected–if an average of 70 euros raised per day and 40 euros spent on direct payments in the store.

The period of Christmas was, as usual, the more agitated to the level of purchases. Per day between 1 and 31 December, the SIBS saw six million of the operations in boxes and automatic payment terminals, having been the 23rd of December, the most hectic of all the 8.4 million operations – more by 8.8% than the day counterpart, who also had been the most eventful 2015.

But not only of present christmas and the first few races to the balances made to the court. The restaurants and hotels, who have gambled in the programs of the Christmas and new Year – many with full house, especially in Wood -, also felt a greater willingness to spend. The payments at these establishments rose by 17.5% in relation to December 2015, to 13.9 million purchases.

The same happened in the fuel stations, with the second biggest rise soon after the accommodation and catering. Payments grew by 12.6%, totaling 8.4 million operations. Also the supermarkets have felt the increase in purchases, with a growth of 7.6% in the transactions for 31 million of purchases in payment terminals atm. This is also the area where the Portuguese have the highest number of operations during the holiday season. Only after comes the retail trade, which this year grew by 4% to 27.9 million of operations.

And tourism is reflected? There was an increase of 18.6% in the number of purchases and withdrawals made with foreign cards in Portugal, compared to the data of 2015. These cards now account for 2% of the total volume of purchases and withdrawals you have made.

The cards of French origin were the most operations there has been a total of 924,6 thousand -, confirming the increasing trend in the number of tourists, and even residents of the French in Portugal. Just behind in number of operations, and demystifying the potential impact of brexit, there were the cards from the United Kingdom, which were the ones that recorded the largest growth among the foreign cards. All in all, were made 180,3 thousand purchases and withdrawals with these cards, the more 37.3% in the than in the comparable period. Just behind are the uses of cards Spanish.