more recent holiday spending is up 4
Credit cards make Christmas merry for Canadians In a Christmas season marked by growing economic malaise around the world, Canadians are defiantly fighting back with the best weapon they have: their credit cards. The sluggish global recovery from the Great Recession has saddled the country's consumers with stagnant wages, persistently high unemployment and record high household debt levels high enough that Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has sounded repeated warnings about the risk this debt load poses to the economy. economy and ongoing European debt crisis mean the outlook for next year remains unstable. But in the run up to Christmas, expectations about what makes an ideal holiday appear to be trumping worries about the bills that will come due in the new year. Retail sales have climbed for three months in a row, with new figures this week showing another surprising jump in October. More recent holiday spending is up 4.6 per cent from 2010, payment processor Moneris Solut