The value of electronic card transactions edged ahead last month, following on from July's strong rise.
Figures published today by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) showed total electronic card transactions up a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in August.
The small rise was mainly due to an increase in the non-retail group -- which included services such as travel and health, and wholesaling -- and followed a 1.2% gain in July, SNZ said.
Transactions in the retail industries were up just 0.2%, with a small rise in fuel sales, having risen 0.8% in July.
In core retail, which excludes vehicle-related industries, electronic card transactions edged ahead just 0.1%, seasonally adjusted, compared with July when core retail gained 1.1%.
Trends for the value of transactions in the total, retail, and core retail series had all been increasing since January, SNZ said.
Latest figures indicated that the growth rate for the retail series had flattened, while for core retail the rate had slowed.
Annual credit card transactions as a proportion of the total transaction value continued to decline, with a corresponding rise in debit card use.
Credit cards accounted for 44.8% of transactions in the year to August, the 11th consecutive month to show a decrease, SNZ said.
The total number of transactions for the year to August was 1.06 billion, compared with 1.01b for the previous year.
The average transaction value for the latest year was $53 compared with $55 for the year to August 2008.
