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NZ credit card billings fall in May - RBNZ

Reuters - Monday, June 22

WELLINGTON, June 22 - Credit card billings in New Zealand fell in May, central bank data showed on Monday, pointing to consumers remaining cautious in the face of a long and deep recession.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said total billings fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent last month, compared with a revised 2.4 percent rise in April.

Billings were 2.4 percent lower than a year earlier, after a 1.6 percent fall in the year to April.

Other data this month has showed a 0.5 percent rise in total retail sales in April, and a 0.9 percent rise in electronic card retail sales in May, pointing to a tentative revival in consumer sentiment.

However, analysts have suggested consumers have been cutting back use of credit cards because of high interest rates and a reluctance to be in debt.

New Zealand has been in recession since the start of 2008 and the slowdown is expected to continue through much of 2009, prompting the central bank to pledge to keep its cash rate at record lows through to the latter part of 2010.

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