A bank economist says the latest data on electronic card transactions reflects growing consumer confidence.
Latest figures from Statistics New Zealand for July show that electronic spending rose 0.2%, after adjusting for seasonal effects, following a 1.2% rise in June.
A BNZ economist, Doug Steel, says the biggest contribution to this growth came from a 5.3% increase in fuel spending. He says core retail spending fell 0.7%, with transactions on durables and apparel goods falling 1.4% and 3.3% respectively, but the overall trend is positive.
"I think fundamentally it tells us that the New Zealand consumer is spending a little bit more," Mr Steel says. "Not a lot more, but the trends are positive.
"We've known that the consumer has been relatively confident for a while, with rising house prices, growing employment, low interest rates and the like... You look at total transactions up 8% on a year ago - that's indicative of them opening their wallets just a little bit."
Mr Steel says he expects consumer spending to continue to increase as the economy keeps picking up.
