Lockdown restrictions take a new bite out of spending

Thu, 10 Sep 2020

New lockdown restrictions in Auckland took a bite out of retail card spending. Total seasonally adjusted retail card spending fell 7.9 percent in August compared with July as Auckland entered covid-19 alert level 3, Stats NZ said. Core card spending – which strips out vehicle-related spending – fell 7.3 percent. “Auckland was the only region under alert level 3, but this third of New Zealand’s population could only spend on restricted services, resulting in lower card spending at the national level,” retail statistics manager Kathy Hicks...

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