CORRECTED - CORRECTED-NZ credit card billings fall in September - RBNZ

WELLINGTON, Oct 21 - Credit card billings in New Zealand fell in September, showing consumers are still cautious as the country emerges from a long recession.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said on Wednesday total billings decreased a seasonally adjusted 1 percent last month, compared with a 1.6 percent gain in August.

Billings were 2.3 percent lower than a year earlier, after a 0.1 percent rise in August.

Other data this month has shown a 1.1 percent rise in total retail sales in August and a 0.7 percent rise in electronic card retail sales in September.

Analysts have suggested consumers had been paring back use of credit cards because of high interest rates and a reluctance to incur debt.

New Zealand emerged from five quarters of recession in the three months to June with meagre 0.1 percent growth.

The central bank has said it expects patchy growth and has pledged to keep its cash rate at record lows through to the latter part of 2010.