New Zealand December Credit Card Spending Slips 0.6%

(RTTNews) - The total value of overall credit card spending in New Zealand fell a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent on month, Statistics New Zealand said on Thursday - after climbing a downwardly revised 0.9 percent in November (originally 1.0 percent).

The value of retail credit card sales fell 0.8 percent or NZ$49 million after jumping 2.6 percent in the previous month.

Spending in the core retail industries (which excludes vehicle-related industries) was down 0.9 percent of NZ$47 million.

By industry, the movements were: consumables, up NZ$4.7 million (0.2 percent); hospitality, up NZ$4.3 million (0.4 percent); motor vehicles (excluding fuel), down NZ$2.8 million (1.5 percent); apparel, down NZ$6.1 million (1.9 percent); fuel, down NZ$7.4 million (1.3 percent); and durables, down NZ$37 million (2.5 percent).

Cardholders made 174 million transactions across all industries in December, with an average value of NZ$53 per transaction. The total amount spent using electronic cards was NZ$9.3 billion.

For the fourth quarter of 2019, spending in the retail industries rose 1.0 percent (NZ$165 million) on quarter and spending in the core retail industries rose 1.0 percent (NZ$147 million).

By industry, the quarterly movements were: durables, up NZ$103 million (2.4 percent); hospitality, up NZ$59 million (1.8 percent); consumables, up NZ$39 million (0.6 percent); fuel, up NZ$18 million (1.1 percent); motor vehicles (excluding fuel), up NZ$4 million (0.7 percent); and apparel, down NZ$3.6 million (0.4 percent).

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail), was up NZ$140 million (0.6 percent) in the December 2019 quarter. This follows a 0.7 percent rise in the September 2019 quarter.

The non-retail (excluding services) category fell NZ$33 million (0.6 percent) and the services category rose NZ$21 million (2.3 percent) from the September 2019 quarter.

In actual terms, the total amount spent using electronic cards was NZ$25.6 billion, up NZ$837 million (3.4 percent) from the December 2018 quarter.