Overall credit card spending in New Zealand climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent on month in November, Statistics New Zealand said on Monday.
That beat forecasts for a gain of 0.76 percent following the upwardly revised 0.7 percent increase in October (originally 0.4 percent).
Retail credit card spending was up 1.2 percent, topping expectations for 0.5 percent and up from 0.3 percent in the previous month.
Core retail spending (which excludes the vehicle-related industries) rose 0.8 percent in November after a 0.5 percent rise in October.
"Fuel prices reached a three-year high in November, contributing to the overall increase in retail card spending," retail manager Sue Chapman said. "Petrol prices rose by about 10 cents a liter in November."
By industry the movements were: fuel, up NZ$28 million (5.0 percent); durables, up NZ$14 million (1.2 percent); hospitality, up NZ$12 million (1.2 percent); consumables, up NZ$10 million (0.5 percent); apparel, up NZ$8.1 million (2.7 percent); and motor vehicles, up NZ$1.7 million (1.0 percent).
The non-retail (excluding services) industry rose NZ$24 million (1.6 percent) and the services industry rose NZ$2.1 million (0.8 percent).
In actual terms, cardholders made 147 million transactions across all industries in November, with an average value of NZ$50. The total amount spent across all transactions was NZ$7.3 billion.
Actual retail spending using electronic cards was NZ$5.4 billion in November 2017, up NZ$223 million (4.3 percent) from November 2016.
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