Retail spending with electronic cards during August was up 0.5%, led by the hospitality sector, and heading towards an expected annual 5% increase.
The spending figures are not expected to have any impact on tomorrow's monetary policy statement by the Reserve Bank, in which analysts expect the official cash rate will be left untouched at 3.5%Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) business indicators manager Neil Kelly said retail spending using electronic cards increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.5% during August.
''The hospitality and consumables industries were the main drivers of August's retail increase,'' he said.
ASB economist Nathan Penny said that after a couple of flat months' spending, total retail spending rose 0.5% in August. However, excluding the volatile auto components sector, core retail spending was a touch stronger, rising 0.6% for the month.
''We had pencilled in a smaller rise due to an expected fall in fuel spending.
"However, the fall was smaller than we anticipated, thus lifting the overall result versus our expectations,'' he said.
He noted hospitality continued its strong run, rising 1.3% to be up about 12% on a year ago, while apparel was weaker, falling 0.4% during August.
Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said the ''modest increase'' in electronic card spending was in line with expectations.
While household spending continued to trend upward, Mr Gordon said the pace of growth had slowed since the start of the year, which was consistent with the drop in broader economic confidence during that time.
