Home > Financial > Poor start to Irish card spending data in January but February improves

Poor start to Irish card spending data in January but February improves

Written by Robert McHugh, on 1st Mar 2021. Posted in Financial

article headline

The Central Bank yesterday published sector spending behaviour data through the most recent phase of the pandemic, showing card spend up until mid-February. The data captures over 90% of the card payments market and looks at the trends from the Level 5 restrictions in October/November and again in January/February.
 
The latest data up to mid-February, show that spending has broadly reverted to levels seen in October’s Level 5 period for all sectors, except for ‘other retail’, which is lower than October as this included the build up to Christmas for retail spending.

The data shows a sharp drop just after Christmas (-45% for week of December 31st), but the Central Bank suggests that this was driven by a number of factors in addition to the introduction of public health measures. Goodbody Stockbrokers say these are seasonal factors, the impact of weekends, and the impact of public holidays - all of which contribute to lower spending. 

According to Goodbody Stockbrokers, "The data is particularly weak in the first week or so of January, but reverts back to “norm” it looks like as we move into February. All the same, it still shows it down yoy for the time being and this is a likely trend until mid-March when the yoy comps should start to improve materially (you know why!!). Anyway, the banks will have plenty of opportunity next week to fill us in on what they think themselves about 2021."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

 

More articles from Financial

image Description

Master International Business Transactions with These Top Payment Systems!

Read more
image Description

Ireland was fastest growing economy in Europe in 2022

Read more
image Description

Irish budget position was strongest in euro area

Read more
image Description

6 in 10 Irish consumers have no extra money left at the end of the month

Read more
image Description

Inflation is the number one concern amongst Irish consumers

Read more