More than €5.8 billion was spent on Visa cards by Irish residents last year in a rise of 6 per cent on the same period in 2002, according to data released by Visa.
The company said its Irish-based customers carried out 58.7 million transactions, a rise of nearly 3 per cent compared with 2002.
The number of cards in use rose by 3.8 per cent to 2.9 million. Visa said the average amount spent on one of its cards was €2,033 per annum in 2003.
The average value of a Visa card transaction was €98.50. The growth in Irish Visa credit card usage was almost half the European average of 11 per cent.
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Visa card holders in Europe spent almost €824 billion last year. Spending online by Visa holders doubled last year to €12.6 billion.