New Zealanders increased credit and debit card retail spending for a third straight month, adding to evidence that consumers are feeling more upbeat about the economy and easing open their wallets.
Electronic card transactions at retailers rose 0.7 per cent in September, adding to the previous month's 0.3 per cent gain, according to Statistics New Zealand. Excluding auto-related spending, transactions rose 0.4 per cent.
The total number of card transactions rose 6.5 per cent from a year earlier to 79 million.
Evidence is growing that the economy is recovering from its five-quarter contraction, which ended when growth returned at a 0.1 per cent pace in the second quarter.
The NZSE Consumer Index, which includes the listed retailers on the NZX, gained 0.4 per cent today and has risen 4.8 per cent in the past month.
Consumer confidence rose to a four-year high in the third quarter, according to the Westpac-McDermott Miller survey.
Today's report showed spending on consumables, which include food and liquor, rose 0.4 per cent while spending in the service industries rose 3.7 per cent.
-BUSINESSWIRE
