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Overall credit card spending in New Zealand added a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent on month in February, Statistics New Zealand said on Monday - in line with expectations following the 2.0 percent gain in January.
Retail credit card spending rose 0.9 percent, beating forecasts for a rise of 0.3 percent following the 1.8 percent increase in the previous month.
Core retail spending (which excludes the fuel and vehicle-related industries) rose 0.9 percent in February.
"The rise in card spending was driven by people spending more on groceries and liquor," retail manager Sue Chapman said. "The rise in fuel spending coincided with a gradual increase in fuel prices, after a period of lower fuel prices."
By industry the movements were: consumables, up NZ$19 million (1.0 percent); fuel, up NZ$7.4 million (1.3 percent); hospitality, up NZ$7.0 million (0.7 percent); vehicles (excluding fuel), up NZ$4.6 million (2.6 percent); apparel, up NZ$2.8 million (0.9 percent); and durables, down NZ$2.5 million (0.2 percent).
The value of retail spending using electronic cards was NZ$5.1 billion in February, up NZ$168 million or 3.4 percent on year.
Cardholders made 140 million transactions across all industries in February 2019, with an average of NZ$49 per transaction. The total amount spent using electronic cards was NZ$6.9 billion.
