WELLINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Electronic card spending in New Zealand fell in September amid weaker retail activities, the government statistics department Stats NZ reported Tuesday.
Seasonally adjusted figures showed total electronic card transactions, covering debit, credit and charge cards with New Zealand-based merchants, dropped 0.4 percent from August, down 34 million NZ dollars (19.36 million U.S. dollars) to 9.1 billion NZ dollars (5.18 million U.S. dollars).
Consumables fell 0.5 percent, durables dropped 0.8 percent, motor vehicle sales were down 2.6 percent, among retail spending categories, with hospitality the only retail sector to rise, gaining 1.5 percent, Stats NZ said.
Non-retail spending excluding services, including medical, travel, and postal industries among others, remained unchanged from August 2025, while services fell 1 percent, covering repair and maintenance, and personal care, funeral, and other personal services, it said.
In actual terms, New Zealand cardholders made 168 million transactions across all industries in September, averaging 54 NZ dollars (30.74 U.S. dollars) each, statistics show. ■
