Card spending increases in April

AUCKLAND: Spending on credit and debit cards increased in

April as people took advantage of the extended holiday period to travel and eat out more.

Seasonallyadjusted card spending increased 0.6% in April after a 0.2% dip in March, Stats NZ said. Core retail spending, excluding fuel and vehicle spending, was up 0.5% following a 0.3% decline in March.

The increased spending coincided with a later Easter and school holiday period, which fell in the second half of April this year, having been across March and April in 2018.

‘‘Many employees took three days off to get a 10day holiday over the Easter and Anzac Day period,’’ retail statistics manager Sue Chapman said.

Spending on consumables rose 0.5%, or $9.9 million, to

$2.05 billion while spending on hospitality was up 0.6%, or

$6.3 million, at $1.08 billion.

Bank of New Zealand senior economist Doug Steel said the number was slightly weaker than he expected but ‘‘it is very difficult to trust these numbers as an indicator of trend given the coinciding of a number of holidays’’ may have distorted spending.

Mr Chapman said the lift was also driven by fuel spending ‘‘due to climbing fuel prices’’. Fuel prices increased for the fourth consecutive month and spending on fuel rose 2.8%, or $17 million, to $606 million.

ASB Bank senior economist Mark Smith said the 25c perlitre climb in petrol prices since January will likely weigh on household budgets and may prompt households to cut their discretionary spending.

April spending on durables — which includes electronics, whiteware, hardware, and furniture — lifted 1.3%, or

$17 million, to $1.31 billion.

In actual terms, cardholders made 144 million transactions across all industries, down from 156 million in March. The average value was $49 per transaction, up from $48 in March.

Total actual retail spending using electronic cards was

$5.3 billion versus $5.6 billion in March. Spending was 4.5% higher than in April 2018. Core retail spending was $4.6 billion versus $4.8 billion a month earlier. On the year it was up 5.6%. — BusinessDesk