Retail spending across New Zealand has dipped since the start of the Iran conflict, according to payment processors Worldline NZ, but fuel spending has soared.

Using data taken from Worldine’s payments network through March, a slight improvement in consumer spending over the prior year was swiftly lost.

“Spending growth was up 2.9 per cent in the first weekend of March, around the time of the initial attacks on Iran,” said Worldline’s chief sales officer, Bruce Proffitt. “By the last weekend of March, spending at core retail merchants was barely 0.1 per cent above year-ago levels.”

At the same time, fuel outlets in Worldline NZ’s network had seen a year-on-year spending increase of 33 per cent.

Proffitt added that the usual spending pattern of food and liquor spending rising, while core retail and hospitality spending fell, was consistent with periods of uncertainty.

Palmerston North, Waikato, and Nelson were among the locations that saw the largest year-on-year increase in spending. Wairarapa, Gisborne, and Taranaki had the sharpest declines.