10.09.201819:48:00UTC+00New Zealand August Overall Credit Card Spending Jumps 1.1%

Overall credit card spending in New Zealand climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent on month in August, Statistics New Zealand said on Tuesday - following the 0.5 percent gain in July.

Retail credit card spending climbed 1.0 percent on month, accelerating from 0.7 percent in the previous month.

The seasonally adjusted value of retail electronic card transactions for August 2018 month were: spending in the retail industries rose NZ$56 million (1.0 percent); and spending in the core retail industries rose NZ$33 million (0.7 percent).

Spending rose in all six retail industries: fuel, up NZ$27 million (4.1 percent); durables, up NZ$15 million (1.2 percent); consumables, up NZ$12 million (0.6 percent); hospitality, up NZ$10 million (1.0 percent); apparel, up NZ$7.6 million (2.6 percent); and vehicles (excluding fuel), up NZ$1.1 million (0.6 percent).

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail) rose 1.1 percent in August. This follows a 0.2 percent rise in July.

The non-retail (excluding services) category rose NZ$17 million (1.1 percent) and the services category rose NZ$2.2 million (0.8 percent).

In actual terms, cardholders made 146 million transactions across all industries in August, with an average of NZ$49 per transaction. The total amount spent using electronic cards was NZ$7.1 billion.