Icelanders’ use of credit cards has reduced this Christmas, and people are paying with cash in larger numbers than they have in years. The banknotes in circulation increased to ISK 13 billion at the height of the crisis in October – an incredible figure for a country whose debit and credit card use is among the highest in the world.
Despite this news, retailers in Iceland are reporting good sales in the lead up to Christmas.
“Many were downbeat and thought there would be little Christmas shopping this year,” Retail and Service Union chief Andres Magnusson told MBL.is. “But it has been going well so far.”
“All shopping this year is in Iceland. People aren’t going abroad to do their Christmas shopping,” Magnusson added.
Some are joking that this Christmas’s retail figures in Europe and North America are so terrible precisely because Icelanders are not going on their usual shopping sprees.
