KEY POINTS:
Growth in credit card spending picked up a little last month, with the biggest increase in spending on overseas cards.
Billings on all credit cards in February rose 0.7 per cent on January, seasonally adjusted, to be up 8.1 per cent on a year earlier, the Reserve Bank said. That followed a monthly rise of just 0.1 per cent in January.
Domestic card use rose 7.9 per cent to $2.07 billion for the year ended February, against an 8.9 per cent rise in January, while overseas card use was up 9 per cent at $402 million.
The average standard interest rate charged on all business and personal cards was up slightly at 19.6 per cent from 19.5 per cent in December.
Statistics New Zealand said earlier this month that credit card spending fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.1 per cent in February.
- NZPA
