Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Core retail spending flat

Updated at 12:01 pm on 10 February 2010

Core retail electronic card spending was flat in January.

Statistics New Zealand says spending on core retail products, which excludes motor and vehicle related industries - using debit, credit and charge cards dipped a seasonally-adjusted 0.1%.

This follows a rise of 0.7% in December.

Higher fuel prices saw total retail sales climb 0.5% during the month.

However, the total value of transactions was up 1.1%, the largest monthly increase in six months.

Goldman Sachs JBWere economist Philip Borkin says the figures are in line with recent data that shows the economic recovery is still fragile.

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