Consumers readied for summer in April as spending on lawn and garden supplies grew jumped 32.2 per cent on the month to €21.1 million bicycle shops took in €9.4 million, up 13.6 per cent, according to new data on card spending from the Central Bank.
But those figures are still down on the same time last year – 1.6 per cent lower in the case of lawn and garden supplies and a more modest 0.8 per cent off the 2023 spending on bicycles.
The total value of card payments grew by 0.4 per cent month-on-month in April to €8.2 billion, even though the volume of card payments was down by 0.3 per cent at 213.8 million.
Unsurprisingly, spending on campgrounds and trailer park surged jumped by 85.1 per cent on March, and is 9.1 per cent ahead of April 2023, at €12.5 million.
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Retail spending paid by card overall was 0.3 per cent up on March at €3.5 billion. Spending on services increased by 2 per cent and reached €3.3 billion.
The biggest contributors to this increase were spending on accommodation (up 6.6 per cent on the month), transport (+2.6 per cent), health (+5.4 per cent) and utilities (+11.2 per cent). Social spending fell by 5.2 per cent and amounted to €1.1 billion.
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The total value of cash withdrawals fell by 1 per cent to €1.1 billion. Domestic cash withdrawals remained below €1.1 billion, which was a decrease of 1.5 per cent, while non-domestic cash withdrawal value grew by 6.4 per cent and amounted to 67 million.
Domestic card payments value remained unchanged at €6.7 billion, while non-domestic card payments grew by 1.9 per cent to €1.4 billion.
Within domestic card payments, contactless payments value showed a decrease of 1.5 per cent to €2.1 billion. Mobile wallet and near field communication payments accounted for €1.2 billion (57.7 per cent) of this value, which was a 1.7 per cent decrease on March values.
The value of point of sale and non-remote payments decreased by 0.8 per cent and currently stands below €4.1 billion.
Domestic payments accounted for €3.7 billion of this value, which was a decrease of 1.1 per cent compared to March, with non-domestic payments taking up the remaining €400 million.
The value of online or remote card payments showed a 1.6 per cent increase and climbed to €4.1 billion as well, standing at the same level as the point of sale payments.
Domestic online payments reached €3.1 billion, following a 1.5 per cent of increase, while non-domestic online payments grew by 1.8 per cent to €1 billion.
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