2014.06.2300:56:00UTC+00New Zealand Credit Card Spending Rises In May

New Zealand credit card spending rose at a faster year-over-year rate in May, figures from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand showed Monday.

Total credit card billing rose a seasonally adjusted 7.5 percent year-over-year in May, a faster rate of increase than the 3.2 percent rise in April. The total value of billing amounted to NZD 2.8 billion.

On a month-over-month basis, credit card spending rose 3 percent in May, reversing the 3 percent drop in April.

Billing on New Zealand issued cards rose 7.2 percent year-on-year and billing on overseas-issued cards increased 10.5 percent in May after growing at 3.2 percent each in April.

Credit card balance increased 5.2 percent year-over-year in May following the 4.9 percent rise in April. Compared to the previous month, outstanding balance rose 0.6 percent in May after the 0.1 percent decline in April.