Retail electronic card spending flat

Embargoed until 10:45am – 19 March 2008

Retail electronic card spending flat

The value of seasonally adjusted electronic card transactions for the total retail series was down 0.1 percent in February 2008 compared with January 2008, Statistics New Zealand said today. The consumables, durables, and hospitality industries increased during February, but did not offset the decrease in the motor vehicle-related industries, which coincided with a fall in fuel prices.

The seasonally adjusted value of core retail electronic card transactions (which excludes the motor vehiclerelated industries) was up 0.6 percent in February 2008. The trend for the core retail series has eased since August 2007.

In February 2008, there were 81 million electronic transactions totalling $4.5 billion. When adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, this represents a 0.2 percent decrease in the value of total card spending compared with January 2008.

The Electronic Card Transaction series measures the number and value of debit, credit and charge card transactions with New Zealand-based merchants. It is a census of all card transactions processed within New Zealand. Transactions by overseas card-holders in New Zealand are included; transactions by New Zealand card-holders overseas are excluded.

The data is released as an experimental series and Statistics NZ acknowledges the cooperation of the private sector in providing the data for publication.

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician
19 March 2008

ENDS

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