Electronic card spending down slightly in March
The amount New Zealanders and visitors to the country spent with their debit and credit cards fell slightly in March, Statistics New Zealand said today. The total value of electronic card transactions was down 0.2 percent, when adjusted for seasonal effects.
"Spending increased in most industries, especially hospitality," acting industry and labour statistics manager Tehseen Islam said. "However, these increases did not translate into an overall increase, because of lower spending on fuel and non-retail items."
The largest movements in March 2012 were in:
- non-retail (excluding services), down 1.8 percent ($21 million)
- fuel, down 2.5 percent ($16 million)
- hospitality, up 2.1 percent ($12 million).
Core retailing was up 0.5 percent, boosted by rises in three of the four industry groups.
The value of transactions across all retail industries, which include two vehicle-related industries, was up 0.3 percent in March 2012.
Trends for the core retail and total retail series have generally been positive since the series began in 2002, but have become flat in recent months. The total series trend is positive, but the rate of increase has eased since late 2011.