KEY POINTS:
Credit card billings last month were down sharply on December 2007, adding to the evidence of increasing consumer caution.
Reserve Bank data released yesterday showed total credit card billings in New Zealand were down 3.9 per cent on a year earlier.
When foreign cards are excluded the drop was 4.4 per cent.
Both are record lows for the 14 years comparable data have been compiled.
Adjusted for seasonal effects billings to domestically issued cards were down 2.7 per cent on November, the third month-on-month decline in a row.
Statistics New Zealand's figures for electronic card transactions in December released last Thursday, which include debit (eftpos) cards as well as credit cards, recorded a 1 per cent increase in the value of transactions charged to a card compared with a year earlier.
The consumers price index had risen by 5.1 per cent over the same period, and there were 4 per per cent fewer transactions than a year earlier.
