Spending on vehicles nudges up

Spending on motor vehicles using electronic cards held steady last month after totalling $195 million, according to new data from Stats NZ.

The seasonally adjusted figure for January was the same as the sector achieved a year ago and was up $300,000, or 0.2 per cent, from December’s total.

Meanwhile, transactions for fuel decreased by $18m, or 3.7 per cent, month-on-month to $472m.

Spending on fuel was also down by $40m, or 7.8 per cent, on an annual basis.

Overall spending in the retail industries dropped by $78m, or 1.1 per cent, to $6.9 billion last month.

Apparel was the only other industry to record a month-on-month increase in January after climbing $1.9m, or 0.6 per cent, to $337m.

In actual terms, cardholders made 177 million transactions across all industries last month with an average value of $55 per transaction. 

The total amount spent using plastic, which includes debit, credit, and charge cards, came in at $9.8b last month.