Spending on vehicles hits two-year low
Retail card spending on motor vehicles fell by $9.5 million – or 4.8 per cent – in May, when compared with the numbers seen in the month prior.
It took the industry’s seasonally adjusted figure for last month to $190m, which is the lowest monthly amount in the past two years of records compiled by Stats NZ.
May’s total also represented a drop of $20m, or 9.5 per cent, from the same month of 2023 when $210m was splurged on motor vehicles using electronic cards.
The latest seasonally adjusted values from Stats NZ show spending across all retail industries fell by $69m, or 1.1 per cent, last month when compared with April. The overall total for May was $6.45 billion.
The amount forked out for fuel also dropped by $16m, or 2.8 per cent, over the same period to $540m last month.
In actual terms, cardholders made 164m transactions across all industries in May, with an average value of $55 per transaction. The total amount spent using cards was $9b.
