Spending growth soaring

Marlborough has the second highest spending growth in the country for the first three weeks of December.

Paymark figures released on Monday showed money spent had increased 8.7 per cent from last year, from $37.5 million to $40.8 million.

The Friday before Christmas was the busiest day of the year nationally, with $235.6m spent, 5.7 per cent more than the same day in 2012.

Paymark head of sales and marketing Paul Whiston said the Christmas rush had continued into the third week of December.

‘‘Last week we saw the usual pre-Christmas jump with Kiwis spending more than $1.3 billion between December 15 and 21,’’ Mr Whiston said.

‘‘This is a strong performance and growth so far for December is still ahead of the year-to-date average,’’ he said.

The biggest growth nationally was spent on accommodation, rising 11.9 per cent.

The biggest drop was in bookshop and video spending, dropping 9.3 per cent.