NZ credit, debit card spending climbs 3 percent in August on record-spike in fuel expenditure

NZ credit, debit card spending climbs 3 percent  in August on record-spike in fuel expenditure
By Hannah Lynch Sept. 11 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealanders ramped up spending on their plastic cards last month after a record-spike in expenditure at the petrol pump. The seasonally adjusted value of total retail industry transactions on electronic cards rose 3 percent to$4.27 billion in August, according to Statistics New Zealand. Spending on fuel jumped 11 percent to $689 million, its biggest monthly increase since the series began a decade ago. "Part of this is likely to reflect the steady increase in petrol prices over the month," ASB e...