Consumer spend recovers to pre Covid-19 lockdown levels

Consumer spend on credit and debit cards has rebounded by 64% since mid-April. File Picture.

People are spending almost as much now as they did before public health measures were introduced to control the spread of Covid-19, according to figures from the Central Bank.

By the end of last week, spending on debit and credit cards had increased significantly to €1,433 million, a 64% increase from the middle of April.

In the first week of March, before the introduction of any Covid-19 restrictions, people spent €1,488m on debit and credit cards, including ATM withdrawals.

Just over a month later, according to an analysis by the Central Statistics Office, spending levels had plummeted by 41% to €875 million.

The number of transactions on debit and credit cards fell by more than one-third (36%) from 28.38 million to 18.12 million between the first week in March and the week ending April 16.

By the end of last week, however, the numbers fully recovered to 28.81 million by the week ending July 13, a 59% increase compared to April 16.

The use of cash to pay for goods and services is indicated by ATM withdrawals and the data shows that many people have not started using cash to pay for transactions again.

During the first week of March, €368 million was withdrawn at ATMs and this dropped by 60% to €147 million by April 16 and then only partially recovered with €261 million drawn by July 13.

The number of ATM withdrawals fell by 65.9% from 2.67 million during the first week of March to just under 1 million by April 16 but rose to 1.72m by July 13.

Even with this partial recovery in ATM transactions, the numbers remain significantly lower when compared with the first week in March, with falls of 29% in the amount of cash withdrawn and 35% in the number of transactions.

The data, published every Friday on the Central Bank's website, covers spending and transactions on all euro-denominated credit and debit cards issued to consumers and businesses.

It includes all point of sale transactions covering both online and in-person transactions, using both personal identification numbers and contactless and ATM withdrawals.

The Central Bank has advised that a retailer does not have to accept cash as a form of payment if it has been specified clearly in advance that only other payments such as debit or credit cards will be accepted.