New Zealand Credit Card Spending Jumps 1.4% In November
10 December 2017 - 05:48PM
RTTF1
Overall credit card spending in New Zealand climbed a seasonally
adjusted 1.4 percent on month in November, Statistics New Zealand
said on Monday.
That beat forecasts for a gain of 0.76 percent following the
upwardly revised 0.7 percent increase in October (originally 0.4
percent).
Retail credit card spending was up 1.2 percent, topping
expectations for 0.5 percent and up from 0.3 percent in the
previous month.
Core retail spending (which excludes the vehicle-related
industries) rose 0.8 percent in November after a 0.5 percent rise
in October.
"Fuel prices reached a three-year high in November, contributing
to the overall increase in retail card spending," retail manager
Sue Chapman said. "Petrol prices rose by about 10 cents a liter in
November."
By industry the movements were: fuel, up NZ$28 million (5.0
percent); durables, up NZ$14 million (1.2 percent); hospitality, up
NZ$12 million (1.2 percent); consumables, up NZ$10 million (0.5
percent); apparel, up NZ$8.1 million (2.7 percent); and motor
vehicles, up NZ$1.7 million (1.0 percent).
The non-retail (excluding services) industry rose NZ$24 million
(1.6 percent) and the services industry rose NZ$2.1 million (0.8
percent).
In actual terms, cardholders made 147 million transactions
across all industries in November, with an average value of NZ$50.
The total amount spent across all transactions was NZ$7.3
billion.
Actual retail spending using electronic cards was NZ$5.4 billion
in November 2017, up NZ$223 million (4.3 percent) from November
2016.