Spending on cars steady

Spending on vehicles remained steady during January – dropping only 0.4 per cent – while most other industries saw an increase when compared with December 2021, according to Stats NZ.

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the total splashed out on vehicles through credit and debit cards was $210 million last month.

While the January figure was slightly down from December 2021, it was 4.5 per cent higher than the $201m spent across the sector in the same month a year ago.

Retail card spending on fuel enjoyed a more buoyant start to the year as it increased by 2.7 per cent between December and January from $570m to $585m. 

Last month’s total was also 13.6 per cent higher than in January 2021 and the highest since February 2020 when it reached $591m.

Ricky Ho, business performance manager at Stats NZ, says: “The increase in spending on fuel comes at a time when the price of fuel has also increased.”

Credit and debit card spending across all industries last month increased by $175m, or 2.1 per cent, compared with December 2021 and reached $8.4 billion.

Durables, which includes furniture, electrical goods, hardware, department stores, recreational goods and pharmaceutical retailing, had the highest increase of 3.3 per cent, or $54m.

In actual terms, total electronic card spending was $8.2b in January, up $339m, or 4.3 per cent, from a year earlier.

The average value of each transaction last month was $54.