, which the company says is a positive sign ahead of the December festive season.
The Spark Cash Index (SCI), which measures the average value of withdrawals across more than 1,500 Spark ATM's throughout the country, reflected a 2.18% year-on-year increase in November from R412 to R421, while month-on-month cash withdrawal values also reveal a positive increase of 0.72% from October to November 2011.
Marc Sternberg, MD of Spark ATM Systems, said: "The increase in the value of cash in circulation for November is in line with the historic trend for this time of the year which is on track to better the highest withdrawal value of R447, recorded during December 2010."
He adds that the figures point to an increase in the amount of cash in circulation, which bodes well for retail sales over the last quarter of 2011.
"The SCI is an accurate leading indicator of Stats SA's Retail Trade Sales (RTS) report, the last value of which was released for the month of September. The increase in the SCI during October and November hints that growth in the RTS should be reflected when these values are released by Stats SA. Looking forward, with the annual trend being that cash withdrawal values increase steadily month on month from November to December, we can therefore expect the retail sales figures for the last month of the year to also show good year-on-year increases".
The Spark Cash Index is a useful "real-time" gauge of consumer spending, utilising Spark ATM Systems' network of over 1,400 ATMs located countrywide to reflect accurate, broad and timely cash demand and utilisation data. Spark ATMs are typically located in convenience stores, petrol stations, specialist retail nodes and leisure & hospitality venues.
