Credit, debt card retail spending slips in May, first decline in 13 months
Retail spending fell 0.3%, seasonally adjusted, in May.
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New Zealanders cut their retail spending on credit and debit cards for the first time in 13 months in May, as people reduced expenditure on hospitality, petrol and vehicles.
Retail spending fell 0.3%, seasonally adjusted, in May, the first decline since April 2015, Statistics NZ said. Vehicle spending was down 1.6% and fuel 1.5%, while spending in the hospitality industry declined 0.7%, the only core sector to register a drop. Actual sales were 3.3% higher than a year earlier at $4.76 billion.
"That was below even our sub-consensus forecast. However, we'd caution against becoming unduly pessimistic about the outlook for household spending based on today's data," Westpac Banking Corp senior economist Satish Ranchhod said in a note. "Much of this month's decline is a natural response following some very large increases seen in April (which potentially reflected the early timing of Easter this year)."
Hospitality has been driving gains in core retail spending in recent months, cashing in on the country's tourism boom, and the May decline was the first contraction in spending since October. In actual terms, fuel spending was down 6.6%, reflecting cheap oil prices around the world feeding through the petrol pump.
"Despite recent rises, the price of fuel is still about 10c lower than what it was in May last year," Statistics NZ business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.
Core retail spending, which strips out vehicle-related purchases, was down 0.1% in May and was up 4.6% from a year earlier. Total spending, which includes non-retail and service spending, fell 0.6% in May and was 4% up from a year earlier.
Card-holders made 130 million transactions in May, up 4.6% from the prior year, of which core retail accounted for 97 million transactions, up 4.8% from May 2015.
(BusinessDesk)
Paul McBeth
Fri, 10 Jun 2016
Fri, 10 Jun 2016
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Credit, debt card retail spending slips in May, first decline in 13 months
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