As for activity and demand, in recent months their evolution has been in line with the forecasts in the March Report. According to National Accounts data for the first quarter, seasonally adjusted, domestic demand fell by 1.5% with respect to the previous quarter, with a drop of 8.0% in an annual comparison. Total GDP and non-mining GDP grew in their seasonally adjusted series, with increases of 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively. This was mainly due to a transitory accounting effect in the transportation sector, which we had already mentioned in the March Report. In annual variation, the two showed a drop of 0.6% (figure 4). By sectors, personal services, restaurants &hotels, and fishery performed well during the first quarter. In contrast, commerce has continued to adjust and construction continues to underperform. The largest downward difference was recorded in the mining sector. On the expenditure side, the main developments were concentrated in consumption. Seasonally adjusted, private consumption fell 2.5% quarter-on-quarter (q/q), a sharper than anticipated fall, mainly explained by the 18.8% q/q decline in durable consumption. Regular consumption continues on a downward trend in goods and an upward trend in services. Government consumption, on the other hand, grew more than we projected (figure 5). In any case, this evolution of private consumption is considered a preview of the decline expected during this year. This is in line with high-frequency information, such as imports of and spending on goods and services (figure 6).
Cards can be physically stolen or credit card numbers can be acquired by thieves over the phone, internet or website and then used illegally to rack up debts. Access Bank must therefore, develop adequate security measures that can protect it and its clients from the crimes which seem to pervade the electronic based payment platforms. To fight this crime, you will need to educate your customers on how to safely and securely conduct transaction using their cards. You will help prevent fraud by educating your customers on what to do when they lose their card or wallet, how to secure their card by, for instance, not giving out credit card information anyhow or on the website and the need to check statements closely. On their part, cardholders must also do their part as responsible  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  cardholders, including paying off balances on credit cards as required, not loaning credit cards to others or divulging credit card information to anyone not entitled to it. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me reiterate my words of commendation to Access Bank for introducing this product on the market. It is a great product which when used properly will benefit both the bank and its customers. This outcome is however, predicted on customers using the card wisely and responsibly and on the bank issuing cards to clients after a careful vetting and scrutiny and charging fair interest on the product. Failure to choose creditworthy customers will lead to defaults which may trigger excessive charges.