Retail spending using electronic cards was $4.6 billion in February 2016, up $393 million (9.3 percent) from February 2015, says Statistics New Zealand on Wednesday.

The largest increases were from the consumables and hospitality industries.

"As 2016 is a leap year, February had one more day than last year, so this needs to be taken into account when making comparisons," says business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly.

When adjusted for seasonal effects, retail spending was up 0.7 percent in February 2016, following a 0.4 percent rise in January 2016.

Spending rose in four of the six retail industries. The largest movements in February 2016 were:

• consumables, up $32 million (1.8 percent)
• hospitality, up $13 million (1.6 percent)
• fuel, down $12 million (2.1 percent).

Core retail spending which excludes the vehicle-related industries rose 1.2 percent in February 2016, with increases for all four core retail industries.

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail industries; services, and other non-retail, was down 0.1 percent in February. This follows a rise of 0.6 percent in January 2016.

Trends for the total, retail, and core retail series have generally been rising since these series began in October 2002. The values are only available at the national level, and are not adjusted for price changes.

Trends for the total, retail, and core retail series have generally been rising since these series began in October 2002.

In actual terms, card-holders made 123 million transactions across all industries in February 2016, with an average value of $51. The total amount spent across all transactions was $6.3 billion.

Electronic Card Transactions (ECT) is a monthly series that covers all debit, credit, and charge card transactions with New Zealand-based merchants. This information can be used as an indicator of the change in the level of consumption expenditure and economic activity in general.