Annual global commercial spending grew to an estimated $77.3 trillion in 2007, an increase of 12.2 per cent from $68.9 trillion in 2006, according to data from the Commercial Consumption Expenditure (CCE) index released by Visa Inc.

According to index estimates, spending in all global geographic areas rose during the year.  Europe represented the largest share of commercial spending, followed by the United States, Asia/Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe/Middle East/Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Canada.

The CCE index is a financial metric that provides standardised tracking of business and government spending globally and is recognised as an industry benchmark for measuring commercial spending.

“The CCE index was developed by Visa to measure the penetration of commercial payment products and to help client financial institutions develop solutions tailored to meet the evolving payments needs of business and government”, said Darren Parslow, head of Global Commercial Products, Visa Inc.

“Along with Visa’s comprehensive suite of commercial payment products, the CCE index helps Visa commercial issuers to better serve organisations of all sizes in managing their commercial payments,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service