Kiwis crank up card spending in Easter break

Spending on credit and debit cards increased in April as people took advantage of the extended holiday period to travel and eat out more.

Seasonally-adjusted card spending increased 0.6 per cent in April after a 0.2 per cent dip in March, Stats NZ said. Core retail spending, excluding fuel and vehicle spending, was up 0.5 per cent following a 0.3 per cent 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 10-day holiday over the Easter and Anzac Day period,” retail statistics manager Sue Chapman said.

Spending on consumables rose 0.5 per cent, or $9.9 million, to $2.05 billion while spending on hospitality was up 0.6 per cent, or $6.3m, at $1.08b.

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.

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 per cent, or $17m, to $606m.

April spending on durables, which includes electronics, whiteware, hardware, and furniture, lifted 1.3 per cent, or $17 million, to $1.31b. In actual terms, cardholders made 144 million transactions across all industries, down from 156 million in March.