Electronic Card Transactions Rise

Embargoed until 10:45am – 26 June 2007

Electronic Card Transactions Rise

In May 2007, there were 80 million electronic card transactions totalling $4.6 billion, Statistics New Zealand said today. When adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, this represents a 1.1 percent increase in total card spending compared with April 2007.

The overall trend was 8.4 percent higher in May 2007 than in May 2006. The annual increase in the Electonic Card Transaction series trend was almost 15 percent in 2004 but has generally ranged between 9 and 11 percent since then. As well as reflecting changes in consumer spending and prices, the trend also reflects changing use of payment technologies by merchants and customers.

In the retail industries, seasonally adjusted card transactions rose 0.1 percent in May 2007 compared with April 2007. The core retail Electronic Card Transaction series decreased 0.4 percent, seasonally adjusted, over the same period.

The Electronic Card Transaction series measures the number and value of debit, credit and charge card transactions with New Zealand-based merchants. It is a census of all card transactions processed within New Zealand. Transactions by overseas card-holders in New Zealand are included; transactions by New Zealand card-holders overseas are excluded.

The data are being released as an experimental series and Statistics NZ acknowledges the cooperation of the private sector in providing the data for publication.

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician

ENDS

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