KEY POINTS:
Credit card transactions rose 1.2 per cent in August after adjusting for seasonal effects, Statistics New Zealand said yesterday.
The main contributors to this increase were the consumables, durables and hospitality industries.
There were 81 million electronic card transactions totalling $4.6 billion in August, up from 73 million transaction in August 2006, valued at $4.3 billion.
The number of transactions in the August year rose 9 per cent to 938 million and the value rose 9.2 per cent.
The mean transaction value was $57, the same as the past two months and down from $62 in December 2006.
The overall trend was 8.0 per cent higher in August 2007 from August 2006. This increase is the same as that recorded for the 12 months to July 2007, which was the smallest annual increase since the series began in October 2002.
The trend reflects changes in spending and prices and changes in merchants' and customers' use of payment methods.
In the retail industries, the seasonally adjusted value of card transactions increased 1.4 per cent in August.
- NZPA
