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Australia saw AU$19.25 billion (US$17.8 billion or 11.9 billions euros) worth of credit and charge card transactions in September 2009, up marginally by 0.3% from AU$19.20 billion in September 2008, data from the Reserve Bank of Australia reveals. Total number of transactions in September 2009 stood at 127.4 million, up 2% from the 124.9 million transactions in September 2008. However, Australia also saw 169.6 million debit card transactions in September 2009, up 13.6% from the 149.3 million transactions made in September 2008. The value of these transactions also grew by 11.5% from AU$10.4 billion in September 2008 to AU$11.6 billion in September 2009, according to central bank data. Credit card repayments also went down by 0.3% year-on-year from AU$19.66 billion to AU$19.60 billion, according to the data. Total credit card balance at the end of September 2009 stood at AU$45.1 billion, up by 0.25% from September 2008, when it stood at AU$44 billion. Australia had 14.3 million credit cards and 31 million debit cards in circulation at the end of September 2009.
