09.04.202004:08:00UTC+00New Zealand Retail Sales Fall At Record Pace

New Zealand retail sales declined the most on record in March, data from Statistics New Zealand showed on Thursday.

Retail sales decreased a seasonally adjusted 3.9 percent month-on-month in March, after a 0.5 percent rise in February. This was the biggest fall ever recorded.

"Efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the last couple of months led to the closure of all non-essential businesses and people were told to stay at home from midnight March 25," Retail Statistics Manager Sue Chapman said.

Spending on hospitality dropped the most by about 30 percent in March, while spending on consumables around 17 percent.

Core retail spending, which excludes vehicle-related industries, fell 1.5 percent in March, after a 0.7 percent rise in the previous month.

The electronic card spending dropped 8.7 percent in March, after a 0.4 percent increase in the prior month.