The number of bank credit cards has exceeded pre-pandemic level and reached 31 million 103 thousand 862 plastics placed as of October this year, according to data from the National Commission for Banks and Securities (CNBV).
At the end of 2019, credit plastics amounted to 29 million 172 thousand 507, a level that was maintained until February 2020, since starting from March, when the closure of the economy in Mexico was declared, these dropped to 28 million 720 thousand 807, up to 27 million 499 thousand 172 in February 2021, the lowest level in the study period.
Despite higher interest rates and a slowing economy, most of Mexico’s credit card issuers are poised to continue growing, Fitch Ratings reported in its What Investors Want to Know: Mexican Credit Cards study.
Since 2020, Mexican households have used credit cards to cope with rising prices, especially of food, resulting from high inflation, according to BBVA Mexico.
BBVA chief economist Mariana Torán said the real growth rate of monthly credit card amounts averaged 18% real in the first nine months of 2022, versus an average of 8.5% recorded in the 2019.
MAZ
