WELLINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's retail sector is facing a significant decline as soaring fuel prices erode household budgets and lead to a drop in consumer spending, industry data showed Tuesday.
Payment network Worldline reported that overall card spending rose only 0.5 percent in March, but fuel spending jumped 33 percent, driven by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, pushing non-fuel retail sales down about 1.2 percent year on year.
"Every extra dollar spent on transport is a dollar lost to a local retailer," Retail NZ's CEO Carolyn Young said in a statement.
"Our analysis has found that behind that figure, fuel is doing the heavy lifting," she said. "That tells us consumers have aggressively cut back on their spending elsewhere during March."
"After several years of tough trading for retailers, many don't have the financial reserves to weather another sustained setback," she added. ■