Irish consumer spending rises for twelfth successive month, according to Visa Index

Visa have revealed that consumer spending in Ireland has increased for the 12th month in a row.

The firm's Irish Consumer Spending Index, which measures spending across all payment types (cash, cheques and electronic payments), showed a 4.4% year-on-year rise in household expenditure in February.

It is down from the 5.4% increase seen in January, but it shows spending has now increased on an annual basis throughout the past year.

The strongest increase was seen in Household Goods at 11.4% year-on-year, while there were also sharp spending rises in Transport & Communication (+6.5%), Recreation & Culture (+6.5%), Hotels, Restaurants & Bars (+6.2%) and Food & Drink (+5.8%).

They said that Food & Drink’s growth in February was the fastest seen since April 2017.

The Clothing & Footwear (+2.6%) and Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+0.4%) sectors saw only modest expansions, with Health & Education the only category to see a drop in spending on an annual basis (-2.0%).