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Sales volume on MasterCard credit card issued outside the United States fell 11.8% during the first quarter ended 31 March, to US$194 billion (146.2 billion euros) from $220 billion a year earlier, while total credit transactions rose 7.7%, to 2.66 billion from 2.47 billion, MasterCard Worldwide announced Friday. Some 495 million credit cards were on issue outside the U.S. at the end of March, up 7.1% from 462 million. Debit sales volume outside the U.S. fell 3.8%, to $25 billion from $26 billion. Total debit transactions outside the U.S. reached 477 million, up 17.2% from 407 million. There were 106 million debit cards on issue outside the U.S. as of the end of March, up 43.2% from 74 million a year earlier. Total sales volume for all MasterCard credit and debit products in the Asia Pacific/Middle East/Africa region rose 1.5%, to $69 billion from $68 billion, while total transactions rose 16.8%, to 932 million from 798 million. In Canada, total purchase volume for all credit and debit products fell 15%, to $17 billion from $20 billion, while transactions were up 5.2%, to 223 million from 212 million. In Europe, total purchase volume for all credit and debit cards was $114 billion, down 16.2% from $136 billion. Transactions were 6.2%, to 1.54 billion from 1.45 billion. In Latin America, total purchase volume for all credit and debit cards was $20 billion, down 9.1% from $22 billion, with total transactions of 445 million, up 7% from 416 million.
