Kiwis feeling the economic squeeze

Ōtautahi - New Zealanders are starting to feel the financial pinch from various issues such as the covid pandemic, the global supply chain, the Russian invasion and the subsequent soaring petrol prices.

Credit and debit card spending decreased for all sectors in January and February, Stats NZ says.

Seasonally adjusted total credit and debit card spending last month decreased by $640 million or 7.6 percent, compared to January.

The drop across the board was the first of its kind fort six months, when the country was in lockdown at alert level 4.

The electronic card transactions series covers all debit, credit, and charge card transactions with New Zealand-based merchants. It can be used to indicate changes in consumer spending and economic activity.

Spending in the retail industries fell 7.8 percent ($498 million); while the core retail industries fell 8 percent ($453 million).

By spending category, the movements were:

• consumables, down $141 million (5.7 percent)

• durables, down $51 million (3.0 percent)

• apparel, down $50 million (14.4 percent)

• fuel, down $35 million (5.9 percent)

• motor vehicles (excluding fuel), down $9 million (4.3 percent)

• Non-retail excluding services down $89.98 million

Compared with January, the non-retail (excluding services) category was down by $90 million (5.5 percent). This category includes medical and other health care, travel and tour arrangement, postal and courier delivery and other non-retail industries.

The services category was down $12 million (3.6 percent). This category includes repair and maintenance and personal care, funeral, and other personal services.

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail) decreased by $640 million (7.6 percent) compared with January 2022.

Spending in the hospitality industry fell by $97 million (10.0 percent) between February 2021 and last month.

In actual terms, cardholders made 133 million transactions across all industries in February, with an average value of $55 per transaction. The total amount spent using electronic cards was $7.3 billion.