Bay of Plenty residents spent more on their cards in January with Paymark reporting a jump in spending on the same month last year.

Spending in the Bay rose 4.1 per cent from $266.8million in January 2012 to $277.7million in 2013.

In Tauranga there were 5.32 million transactions last year and 5.57 million transactions this year, according to Paymark.

Nationwide transactions increased by 5.1 per cent with $191million being spent.

Paymark CEO Simon Tong says it's an encouraging start to the year after modest spending in December.

'We're pleased the spending momentum is evident in the last quarter has extended beyond the busy shopping season.

'The value of spending through the Paymark network has increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.6 per cent nationally from December to January, the fourth consecutive monthly gain.”

Paymark, which processes about 75 per cent of all electronic transactions in New Zealand, reports the strongest spending growth was recorded in Canterbury up 8 per cent.

Neighbouring Waikato rose 7.6 per cent followed by the Wairarapa with 5.6 per cent.

'Despite the positive national figures, we're aware that it's still tough out there for some retailers, and in some regions.

'A number of sectors such as accommodation providers and consumer electronics retailers have experienced below average growth. Likewise, spending growth was weak in the West Coast and Southland.”

Simon says New Zealanders are still increasingly finding card payments to be convenient for purchases, both big and small.

'Nationwide in 2012, we increased our card spending by $1.5 billion.

'We hope to see this positive growth trend continue in 2013, and January has been a good start on balance.”