Wairarapa is among the top three regions in New Zealand to show a lift in pre-Christmas spending.
Paymark electronic spending figures released yesterday show spending in Wairarapa so far this month is 5.4 per cent up on the same period last year.
Paymark chief executive Simon Tong said $30.1 millionhad been spent in the region this month to date, compared to $28.6 million up to December 20 last year.
He said Wairarapa was one of the top three performers over the period and had posted the same value difference as South Canterbury at 5.4 per cent. The frontrunner was Canterbury, which was up 6.4 per cent or $22.8 million year-on-year.
Nationally, there had been in December so far a 4.7 per cent year-on-year spending increase, Mr Tong said.
"During the last seven days, spending was up 5.8 per cent. This makes it one of the highest spending weeks of the year and on Thursday we broke through 4 million transactions in one day for only the sixth time in our history."
Paymark deals with about 75 per cent of all electronic transactions in New Zealand.
