NZ credit, debit card retail spending rises in January on hospitality, durables

Wednesday 10th February 2016

New Zealand retail spending on electronic cards rose in January, led by hospitality and durables, while the falling price of petrol led to lower expenditure on fuel.

Spending on core retail, which encompasses consumables, durables, hospitality and apparel, rose 0.6 percent last month, Statistics New Zealand said. Including vehicle-related industries, retail spending increased 0.3 percent.

Spending on hospitality, which includes accommodation, bars, cafes and restaurants, gained 1.2 percent, suggesting retailers are continuing to enjoy tourist-related sales.

"Hospitality spending growth has been the star performer for the last three months and is now sitting 13 percent higher than January 2015’s levels," said ASB Bank economist Kim Mundy. "This lines up with recent anecdotes of a particularly strong tourist season this summer.

"Record low interest rates, record high net migration and strong tourist inflows will continue to support spending levels going forward," Mundy said.

Government figures this month showed overseas visitor arrivals reached a record 3.13 million in calendar 2015, up 10 percent from a year earlier.

Today's data showed spending on durables rose 0.8 percent last month, while spending on fuel fell 2 percent.

The total value of electronic card spending, including services and other non-retail industries, rose 0.6 percent in January, following a 0.4 percent gain in December.

In actual terms, there were 127 million transactions across all industry groups in January, with an average value of $51 and a total value of $6.4 billion.

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