There are just 20 days until Christmas, and while the COVID-19 pandemic has hit many Kiwis hard in the wallet, consumer spending is up.
"The official September retail sales statistics for the quarter showed that electronic spending was up 15 percent, recreational spend was up 20 percent," Milford Asset Management's Frances Sweetman told The AM Show this week.
"People are going out and spending their cash - and also those savings they've had from overseas holidays. I think it was $6.7 billion in 2019 that's being spent."
Economist Cameron Bagrie earlier this year advised people to get their Christmas shopping done earlier due to supply chain issues caused by the pandemic.
"Europe supplies about $20 billion worth of imports into New Zealand," he said in October.
"The longer that supply chain is disrupted up in Europe as COVID rears its ugly head, the more we're going to find problems bringing this stuff into the country."
Have you done your Christmas shopping yet, or are you leaving it until the last minute?
Disclaimer: This straw poll is not scientific and closes after 24 hours.
