Visa Inc., a global leader in electronic payments, has revealed that during the 2014 holy month of Ramadan, its cardholders spent on $3.98 billion across all products — credit, debit and prepaid.

This represents, a 16 percent increase in spend on Visa cards over the same period in 2013.

The findings were released this week in the Visa MENA Ramadan and Eid spend report for 2014. The report analysed domestic and international (known as cross-border) data spend during the holiday period across 32 merchant sectors, including fashion and electronics retail, travel and hospitality, telecommunications, hospitals and financial institutions, on all Visa products issued by banks in the region including debit, prepaid and credit payment cards.

The data has revealed that shoppers spent big at the supermarket in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, with a 9 percent increase over last year. Other key categories included jewelry stores, which saw an increase of 21 percent and family clothing, a category that grew 13 percent in 2014.

Not surprisingly, given the push by Middle Eastern governments to electronify commerce, leading card acceptance institutions like government services and financial institutions registered a growth of 10 percent and 6 percent respectively in year-on-year transactions. Interestingly, the only category to sit in the top ten but decrease, but maintain a high growth volume, was building supply stores — with spend volumes decreasing 12 percent — suggesting DIY projects were not a priority this Ramadan.

Ihab Ayoub, GM MENA at Visa, says: “Visa’s Ramadan and Eid Spend Report for 2014 shows that consumers in our region are increasingly shifting toward an electronic payment culture. They have gained greater insight into our products and the benefits that Visa and its clients offer them.”