Dubai, UAE

A recent MasterCard survey reports 76 percent of consumers in the Middle East have an Internet connection and 51 percent pay for their online purchases with credit cards, reports AME info. Twenty nine percent pay with debit cards, a leap from 9 percent in the first half of 2006.
Online shopping has made steady gains from last year throughout the Middle East. Purchases made in Egypt rose to 7 percent, from 1 percent last year; Lebanon rose to 32 percent from 26 percent; and Kuwait rose to 20 percent from 13 percent in 2006.

There was, however, a marked a decrease in online shopping in Saudi Arabia - from 12 percent down to 1 percent - as well as the United Arab Emirates, which fell to 19 percent from last year's 25 percent.