Debit, credit card spending still climbing

Friday 9th October 2009

New Zealanders increased credit and debit card retail spending for a third straight month, adding to evidence that consumers are feeling more upbeat about the economy and easing open their wallets.

Electronic card transactions at retailers rose 0.7% in September, adding to the previous month’s 0.3% gain, according to Statistics New Zealand. Excluding auto-related spending, transactions rose 0.4%. The total number of card transactions rose 6.5% from a year earlier to 79 million.

Evidence is growing that the economy is recovering from its five-quarter contraction, which ended when growth returned at a 0.1% pace in the second quarter. The NZSE Consumer Index, which includes the listed retailers on the NZX, gained 0.4% today and has risen 4.8% in the past month.

Consumer confidence rose to a four-year high in the third quarter, according to the Westpac-McDermott Miller survey.

Today’s report showed spending on consumables, which include food and liquor, rose 0.4% while spending in the service industries rose 3.7%.

Businesswire.co.nz

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