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New Zealand consumer spending on debit, credit and store cards rose for a third month in April, adding to signs that record-low interest rates and income-tax cuts are slowing a slump in retail sales.

The value of transactions on electronic cards at retailers increased 0.3 percent from March, when they rose a revised 0.4 percent, Statistics New Zealand said in a statement released today in Wellington. Excluding spending at fuel outlets and workshops, transactions gained 0.5 percent.

Retail sales have fallen for a five consecutive quarters as a housing slump and a deepening global recession crimped consumer confidence. The government began lowering income taxes in October and Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard has cut the official cash rate to a record-low 2.5 percent to buoy demand.

“We are getting some tentative signs that nominal spending looks like it has stabilized and is edging up,” said Nick Tuffley, chief economist at ASB Bank Ltd. in Auckland. “Consumer confidence has been relatively resilient and it has started to pick up.”

Postie Plus Group Ltd., a Christchurch-based clothing retailer, said today sales in the three months ended April 30 increased 7.3 percent on a year earlier.

More consumers said it was a good time to buy a major household item, according to a Roy Morgan Research poll conducted in late April.

Habits Changing

Retail sales excluding inflation probably declined 1 quick cash advance.5 percent in the first quarter, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 10 economists. The government publishes the retail figures on May 15.

The recovery in retail sales will be slow amid falling house prices, rising unemployment and concerns that consumers want to avoid increased debt, said Tuffley.

“Habits are changing and people are being more careful how they spend their money,” he said. “You’ve got an environment where employment is falling and also signs that households are spending within their means.”

A net 36 percent of companies expect to fire workers in the coming year, the most since 1991, according to a New Zealand Institute of Economic Research Inc. survey released last month.

The jobless rate rose to a six-year high of 5 percent in the first quarter, according to a May 7 report. The rate will probably exceed 7 percent by the end of the year, says ASB.

New Zealand’s economy is in its sixth quarter of contraction, making the recession the worst in at least three decades. House prices fell 9.2 percent in April from a year earlier, the biggest since the series began in 2005, Quotable Value New Zealand said today.

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