News

ATM withdrawals suggest bump in SA consumer spending

April 9, 2013

New statistics from the Spark Cash Index, a measure of the average value of cash withdrawals at more than 2,000 Spark ATMs across South Africa, indicated a big boost in cash use in March 2013, driven by public, religious and school holidays.

The SCI revealed a month-over-month increase of 4.84 percent in average cash withdrawal figures for March to R465.04 ($52.15), and a corresponding 11.28 percent hike year-over-year.

March figures represented the second highest cash withdrawal value recorded by the SCI since tracking began in January of 2007.

"The combination of public holidays, major religious festivals — including Passover and Easter — and the beginning of school holidays all falling into the same month, resulted in consumers increasing their spending, especially on entertainment and travel," said Ryan Tzamtzis, operations manager at Spark ATM Systems.

But this doesn't necessarily indicate that South African consumers are better off, he said, even though many companies kick off their financial year in March — paying out annual bonuses and pay increases.

"Prices are on their way up so the figure partly reflects higher prices or cost of living as well as spending," Tzamtzis said.

Read more about trends and statistics.