People in New Zealand Increasingly Changing Spending Habits, Behaviors Due to Middle East Conflict, Westpac NZ Says
People in New Zealand are increasingly changing their spending habits and behaviors due to the Middle East conflict, according a report by Westpac NZ on Wednesday.The bank said 84% of the people surveyed reported that they adjusted their behavior in response to the conflict, up from 74% of the people surveyed on March 19.The survey was conducted by research platform Ideally on April 30, with 530 respondents aged between 18 and 80.Over three-quarters of the respondents were worried about the impact of the conflict on their finances.Of the respondents who have changed or are considering changing their behavior in the next six months, 41% said they were confident the changes will help them manage the impact of the conflict on their finances, compared with 24% who were unconfident.The people cutting back on non-essential spending rose to 43% as of April 30 from 28% in March, while 51% are now driving less compared with 41% earlier. The survey also showed that 35% of the respondents changed how they shop for their groceries, up from 26% in March.Westpac customers have reduced their card spend on the likes of clothing and restaurant meals to offset their higher fuel costs since the conflict began, Westpac NZ Chief Executive Catherine McGrath noted.Nearly two-thirds of Westpac's home loan customers were more than three months ahead on their repayments at the end of March, up slightly on six months ago. The median customer was 10.6 months ahead.