Spending on fuel up 17.3%

Spending on fuel increased by 17.3 per cent last month when compared to February as Kiwis felt pain at the pump in the wake of the Middle East conflict.

Consumers spent $81 million on the likes of petrol and diesel via electronic card transactions in March, while expenditure on motor vehicles went up by $3.7m or 1.9 per cent.

Retail industries rose by 0.7 per cent and $52m, and the total value of electronic card spending increased by $124m and 1.3 per cent. The total spend on cards was $10 billion.

As for the first quarter of this year, electronic card transactions on fuel rose by $14m and 0.9 per cent and vehicles by $2.8m and 0.5 per cent when compared to the December 2025 quarter.

Spending across retail industries increased by $199m and one per cent over the same period. The total value of electronic card spending went up by $114m and 0.4 per cent.