In this podcast, NAB Chief Economist, Alan Oster gives you a 10 minute summary of our analysis of consumer spending.

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Overview

Our Data Insights report for the fortnight ending 6 February 2021 shows consumption growth continuing to moderate in the new year, but remaining positive overall. Overall consumption was up 5.9% (year-on-year) for the week ending 30 January and up 4.3% for the week ending 6 February. Retail is up 9.8% yoy, and hospitality (+2.8%) is also growing, but this is being driven by food. Accommodation, which was showing signs of recovery, has fallen back to levels not seen since November.

Business inflow data is rather more buoyant, with 6 week rolling average inflows showing a 14.3% yoy increase last week. This is the strongest result since last May, but unlike last year is not dependent on JobKeeper.

For further details please see NAB Data Insights 6 February 2021 report

*During these extraordinary times we have taken the decision to publish aggregated customer data categorised by industry segment with the view to helping provide clarity around which segments of the economy have been most affected by the broader macroeconomic trends at play. NAB takes data privacy very seriously. All customer transaction data has been aggregated and no individual’s data is specifically identified or analysed as part of this process. The data used in this report will not be sold or made publicly available, but insights from the data will be shared with the Australian people.