Credit and debit card spending jumps 1.1 percent in June

Tuesday 9th July 2013

New Zealand retail spending on credit, debit and charge cards rose more than expected last month, driven by fuel and hospitality.

Total retail billings rose 1.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, in June, according to Statistics New Zealand. Actual retail sales were up 5.1 percent from the same month in 2012. A monthly gain of 0.5 percent and an annual increase of 5.4 percent had been expected, according to a Reuters survey.

Spending on fuel rose 3.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, and hospitality was up 1.7 percent. Spending on consumables such as food and liquor rose 0.1 percent and spending on durables including furniture and appliances was up 0.8 percent. Spending on apparel rose 2.5 percent.

June marked the third straight monthly gain in transactions and was the biggest increase since August last year. The data accounts for about 65 percent of all New Zealand retail sales and is the main indicator of monthly consumer spending since the retail sales series was moved to a quarterly basis.

Total electronic card spending rose 1.2 percent while core retail spending, which strips out auto-related sectors, gained 0.7 percent, today's report showed.

"Total card spending was inflated by a sharp rise in fuel prices in June, but even allowing for that, the underlying pace of spending has been stronger than we expected over the last few months," said Michael Gordon, senior economist at Westpac Banking Corp.

"It looks likely that household spending will make a greater contribution to GDP growth in Q2 compared to the 0.4% rise in Q1, which will help to blunt the impact of lost production as a result of the drought," he said.

Retail-related companies on the NZX have gained 6.9 percent as a group this year, based on a Reuters index of cyclical consumer goods and services companies.

In unadjusted terms, there were 106 million transactions across all industries in June with an average value of $51. Total spending was $5.4 billion.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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