Electronic card spending growth stalls

Tuesday 10th August 2010

New Zealand spending on debit and credit cards stalled last month as expenditure on fuel fell 3.1%.

The value of total electronic card transactions edged down a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in July, according to Statistics New Zealand, ending five months of growth. Still, core retail spending, which excludes motor vehicle-related buying, rose 0.7% as people spent more on food, liquor and chemist retail items.

Consumer confidence has taken a dent, with the ANZ Roy Morgan survey showing consecutive declines in the past two months as people feel worse off than they did a year ago.

That comes as the unemployment reversed its decline last quarter, with the rate rising back to 6.8% in the three months through June from 6% in the March quarter. It had previously reported its biggest quarterly drop from a revised 6.8% in the December period.

Credit card use continued to fall as a proportion of card spending, dropping to 43.9% of transactions, the lowest level since the series began. Still, Credit card billings rose 2.6% in June from the same month a year ago, according to Reserve Bank data.

The retail trade survey for June is released on Friday. Spending on electronic cards accounts for about 61% of all retail spending, and excludes cash and cheque purchases and hire purchase arrangements.

Businesswire.co.nz

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