New Zealand’s total retail card spending fell 113 million NZ dollars (69.15 million U.S. dollars), or 1.7 percent, in May year-on-year, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Thursday.
Card spending fell across all retail industries, including consumables, durables, apparel, fuel and motor vehicles, as well as the non-retail excluding services category, Stats NZ said.
Services was the only industry that saw an increase, rising 1.4 million NZ dollars (860,000 U.S. dollars), or 0.4 percent, compared with April 2023, it said.
The largest contributor to the fall in retail card spending was fuel, down 4.5 percent, followed by apparel, down 3.7 percent, Stats NZ said.— Xinhua
