Kiwis have held a tighter grip on the purse strings this Christmas

A Westpac survey's found 45-percent of people planned to spend less over this holiday season than 2023.

72-percent remain moderately or extremely concerned by the cost-of-living.

Financial Wellbeing Programme Manager, Warren Ngan Wu says this year's financial concerns have been an escalation on years prior.

He says the good news is that interest rates look to come down, so Kiwis may have more cash in their back pockets in the near future.