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Spending on debit, credit and charge cards in the United Kingdom will reach 594 billion pounds in 2008, 11% more than the 536 billion pounds spent with them in 2007, according to projections from UK-based research firm Datamonitor. The increase comes as the UK economy, like economies around the world, sinks into recession, but it reflects the increasing number of consumers who are shunning cash and checks in favor of debit cards, Datamonitor says. Debit card transactions will reach 438 billion pounds this year, up 14% from 383 billion pounds in 2007, Datamonitor says. Credit card spending, though, will decline by about 1%, to 120 billion pounds from 121 billion pounds. "The fall in value of credit card transactions reflects the fact that consumers are less confident about spending on credit and also are spending less on large items," Andrew Fabricius, a Datamonitor analyst, says in a statement. Charge card spending will increase to 36 billion pounds this year, up 9% from 33 billion pounds in 2007. Though the ongoing rollout in the UK of contactless payment likely will "further encourage the use of cards for smaller-value payments in the future," merchants have deployed relatively few contactless readers, especially in areas outside London, Datamonitor says.
