Fed: Consumers stimulated into $19b pre-Christmas spend

AAP General News (Australia)
02-04-2009
Fed: Consumers stimulated into $19b pre-Christmas spend

CANBERRA, Feb 4 AAP - The Rudd government initial's $10.4 billion stimulus package
gave a major boost to spending in the run-up to Christmas, new data released on Wednesday
suggests.

Also aided by cheaper petrol prices and lower interest rates on home loans, consumers
spent a record $19.2 billion in December, a 3.8 per cent seasonally-adjusted increase
on the previous month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.

This was the largest monthly increase since August 2000.

Economists had forecast a 1.0 per cent rise in …