New Zealand Electronic Retail Card Spending Tumbles 7.8% In February

(RTTNews) - The value of electronic retail card transactions in New Zealand was down a seasonally adjusted 7.8 percent on month in February, Statistics New Zealand said on Thursday - after rising 3.0 percent a month earlier.

Spending in the core retail industries, which excludes automobile sales, tumbled 8.0 percent on month.

By spending category, the movements were: consumables, down NZ$141 million (5.7 percent); durables, down NZ$51 million (3.0 percent); apparel, down NZ$50 million (14.4 percent); fuel, down NZ$35 million (5.9 percent); and motor vehicles (excluding fuel), down $9 million (4.3 percent).

On a yearly basis, retail card spending was up 1.1 percent - slowing from 5.7 percent in January.