WELLINGTON, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Spending on fuel in New Zealand rose 4.8 percent in October from the previous month, even as overall electronic card spending declined, official data showed on Thursday.
Among retail categories, fuel was the only one to record an increase, rising 25 million NZ dollars (about 13.89 million U.S. dollars), according to the national statistics agency Stats NZ.
Spending on durables fell 34 million NZ dollars, followed by hospitality, down 23 million NZ dollars, and consumables, down 7.5 million NZ dollars, Stats NZ said.
Spending on motor vehicles excluding fuel declined 3.8 million NZ dollars, while apparel spending fell 2.2 million NZ dollars, statistics showed.
Electronic card spending in the retail industries fell 0.7 percent, or 47 million NZ dollars, while spending in core retail industries dropped 1.2 percent, or 73 million NZ dollars, Stats NZ said.
From September, the total value of electronic card transactions across all industries decreased 120 million NZ dollars, or 1.2 percent, according to the agency.
In actual terms, cardholders made 173 million electronic card transactions across all industries in October, with an average value of 56 NZ dollars per transaction. Total spending using electronic cards reached 9.6 billion NZ dollars, Stats NZ said. ■