Surging Consumer Debt Hits the Gulf States
Posted by Tom Wilkins on Fri 22nd June 2007 at 06:00 AM, Filed in Credit News
It seems that the credit card boom is not exclusive to the western world.
Recent UK based research suggests that consumer debt in the Gulf Arab states is set to rise by an alarming 60% by next year. The spurt is a result of growing private consumption and strong growth in the region’s credit card market.
According to the Lafferty Group:
“Credit cards were the fastest growing component of outstanding consumer debt last year in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, the five Gulf Arab oil exporters.
Total credit card dues in the five countries grew to $5.25 billion at end-2006, up 43 % from a year earlier, Lafferty said in a statement. Around $2 billion of that was borrowed in the UAE.”
(Via Arab Business)
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