Spending by citizens and residents declined slightly in the first half of the year, says a new report by the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK). The report, based on expenses charged to bank cards, show that in the first six months of the year spending fell by 0.8 percent, from the KD11.9 billion in the first half of 2018 to KD11.8 billion during the same period in 2019.
A break-up of the CBK figures show that total payments through Point-of-Sale (POS) machines inside and outside Kuwait during the first half of the year was KD5.49 billion, and the cash withdrawal using ATMs both inside and outside Kuwait during the same period stood at KD6.29 billion.
The amounts disbursed using bank cards during the first-quarter of this year amounted to KD5.9 billion — an increase of four percent compared to KD5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2018. While in the second-quarter of the year, spending decreased by 5.2 percent to KD5.8 billion from the KD6.17 billion recorded in second-quarter 2018.
Meanwhile, close to 134,000 customers in Kuwait issued a total of 2.94 million cheques valued at KD21.7 billion in the first-half of the year. This was up by 47 percent from the KD14.7 billion worth of cheques issued in first-half of 2018.
Of the cheques issued in first -half of this year, a total of 2,812 cheques from 2,000 customers bounced back due to insufficient funds in their accounts. The figures in the first-half of 2018 were significantly lower with only 459 cheques from 457 customers for a total value of KD18.9 million were returned without adequate amounts in the balance.