Retail card spending fell 2.2 per cent in April after increasing in March, stats NZ has said.

“The fall in retail card spending is unusually large. It was driven by a drop in sales of groceries and liquor, as well as an unexpected dip in fuel,” business performance senior manager Peter Dolan said. “The drop in fuel sales was unexpected because petrol prices rose as much as 9 cents a litre during the April month.”

The figures do not cover cash spending.

“These results may be affected by changes in consumer behaviour, payment methods, or the way the electronic card transactions were processed. We will continue to explore the data with our suppliers to further understand these movements,” Mr Dolan said.