Retail sales are expected to have bounced back in January after the worst December on record, when shoppers struggled with the harshest winter weather in a hundred years.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the first few days of January were particularly busy for retailers as customers rushed to beat a rise in VAT sales tax to 20 percent from 17.5 percent which took effect on January 4.
The snowy weather which disrupted Christmas shopping in December also meant some purchases were delayed into January.
Retail sales volumes are forecast to show a 0.5 percent increase on the previous month, and a 4.1 percent increase on January 2010 when the Office for National Statistics releases data at 9:30 a.m. on Friday.
The data will show how shoppers are behaving at the start of what the government has said will be a tough year.
Deep state spending cuts will start to be felt this year, while inflation is running at twice the Bank of England's official 2.0 percent target, further squeezing budgets.
In its survey released earlier this month, the British Retail Consortium said like-for-like retail sales were 2.3 percent higher in January than a year ago in value terms, the strongest annual rate of growth since March.
However, the trade body said the year-on-year comparison was skewed by cold weather that disrupted trading in January 2010, when sales had fallen 0.7 percent.
Consumer confidence fell sharply last month to near its weakest level since early 2009 after the VAT sales tax rise dented shoppers' willingness to spend,
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق
ملحوظة: يمكن لأعضاء المدونة فقط إرسال تعليق.