December with more Internet purchases

During December, in the period between the 1st and the 25th, the Portuguese carried out more transactions over the Internet with MBNet, an increase of 41 percent over the previous year. The figures are from a SIBS balance sheet, quoted by Jornal de Notícias.

According to the entity that manages the Multibanco network, the total number of purchases made over the period over the Internet was 77,648, corresponding to a value of 3,798,561 euros, an increase of 26 percent compared to 2007.

The increase in the volume and value of purchases made on the Internet is much more significant than that recorded in payment terminals in stores (TPAs), where SIBS reports an increase of 4 percent compared to the same period in 2007.

In the case of withdrawals from ATMs, growth was 3 percent, with an average withdrawal of 71 euros in Porto and 65 euros in Lisbon.

These figures are positive compared to the last balance sheet made by SIBS, referring to the period up to 21 December, where there was a drop of 2 percent in payments at terminals in stores and 1 percent in the number of withdrawals at ATMs.

At that time, the SIBS report pointed to a reduction in operations of 39 million euros in stores and 56 million euros in withdrawals from ATMs, but it did not provide figures for Internet purchases.