Statistics New Zealand will this morning release the electronic card data followed later in the week by retail sales figures.
Card spending softened in March after a particularly strong February.
ASB senior economist Jane Turner expected to see growth in spending to have increased in April as the underlying trend of "reasonable growth'' continued.
Drivers such as net migration, tourism, low interest rates and relatively low petrol prices would have supported April spending levels.
"While petrol prices remain relatively low, there was a slight increase in petrol prices over the month. This will have eaten into some of the extra disposable income consumers have been enjoying while petrol prices have been low.''
Retail sales were expected to have started the year on a strong note, she said.
Several factors in the three months ending March, including Chinese New Year and the leap year, were likely to have combined to boost growth.
Also, the fundamentals driving retail sales for most of last year remained. Net migration remained near record levels, interest rates were marginally lower and consumer confidence had proved to be robust. Further, decreases in the cost of petrol over the quarter would have provided a boost to consumers' disposable income.
"Taking all of that into account, we are forecasting a solid 1.7% quarter-on-quarter increase in sales volume for the March quarter,'' Ms Turner said.
The Crown accounts for the nine months to March are due at 10am today, two weeks before Finance Minister Bill English will deliver his Budget 2016.
Most interest will be on tax revenue growth which returned the accounts to surplus last month.
On Thursday, April's Performance of Manufacturing Index will be released at 10.30am. Otago-Southland has been at the top or near the top of the index for several months.
The April food price index will also be released on Thursday and prices are expected to lift 0.2%.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said a plethora of euro zone data was due this week.
In Europe, industrial data production numbers were out on Thursday. Individual country releases were likely to be staggered ahead of the release.
The Bank of England was facing an uphill battle to get the economy moving again. GDP growth slowed during the March quarter and some activity indicators point to a stalled economy, he said.
Many companies had noted the uncertainty around the EU referendum was causing spending and investment decisions to be delayed, compounding the weakness.
Polls remained tight and the Brexit scenario was a genuine risk, Mr Timms said.
