Seasonally adjusted card transactions fell 0.7% in December from November, which was better than the 2.9% fall recorded in November, but still significantly weaker than through late 2007 and early 2008.
Unadjusted card spending rose to NZ$5.641 billion in December from NZ$4.763 billion the previous month, but was up 1% from the same month a year ago.
Statistics NZ's trend measure of card spending has shown reductions in card spending in each of the last four months, with the size of the fall growing in each month.
The figures match the anecdotal evidence of a continued slowdown in consumer spending, but that the Christmas selling season was not as bad as some feared.
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