Visa: Irish consumer spending rises year-on-year for April
Expenditure increased by 0.7% year-on-year in April, according to Visa's latest Consumer Spending Index for Ireland
Print11 May 2017
Visa has published its latest Consumer Spending Index for Ireland, in which the electronic payments provider reports expenditure increased by 0.7% year-on-year in April. The shifting date for Easter, between April and March each year, is cited as the cause of a spending shift; the figure for April and March combined is +2.4% year-on-year.
As has been the case, overall spending was driven by e-commerce, which was up by 3.6% year-on-year for April. Face to face expenditure saw a decrease for the seventh consecutive month. The drop there was 0.7%.
The effect of Easter falling in April was an increase in spending in some sectors, while others went into decline. Hotels, restaurants and bars saw a significant 9.4% increase, the first climb in three months. Increases in spending were also seen in the Food & Drinks and the Household Goods categories, at +6.3% and +5.2% respectively.
Clothing and footwear also saw increases (+1.5%), which ended a three-month downward pattern of decline.
Reductions in spending were also identified in Health & Education (-4.3%), Miscellaneous Goods & Services (-4.3%), Transport and Communications and Recreation & Culture (-1.7% and -0.4%).
Andrew Harker, Senior Economist at IHS Markit agrees that Easter is to some extent responsible for the slowdown in spending, but not completely. “While the unemployment rate continues to fall,” he says, “subdued consumer confidence and a pick-up in inflation are potentially limiting households’ willingness to spend.”
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