UK Retail Sales Fall More Than Forecast On Adverse Weather
19 Avril 2018 - 10:19AM
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UK retail sales declined more-than-expected in March on
unusually cold and adverse weather, official data revealed
Thursday.
Retail sales including auto fuel, dropped 1.2 percent
month-on-month in March, in contrast to a 0.8 percent rise in
February, the Office for National Statistics reported. Sales were
forecast to fall 0.6 percent.
Similarly, excluding auto fuel, retail sales volume dropped 0.5
percent reversing a 0.4 percent rise in February. Economists had
expected a 0.4 percent decrease.
There was a large fall of 7.4 percent in petrol sales.
Department stores were the only sector to show positive growth in
March, at 0.8 percent, as online offers for Mothering Sunday and
Easter boosted internet sales more than usual.
March's retail sales figures were always likely to be weak after
the unusually bad weather at the start of the month, Ruth Gregory,
an economist at Capital Economics, said. And with the bulk of the
lost spending likely to be made up, the bad news should not last
long.
On a yearly basis, overall retail sales volume growth eased to
1.1 percent in March from 1.5 percent a month ago. Economists had
forecast sales to grow at a faster pace of 1.9 percent.
Sales, excluding auto fuel, also grew by 1.1 percent after
rising 1.2 percent in the previous month. The expected rate of
growth was 1.4 percent.
In the first quarter, retail sales dropped 0.5 percent from the
preceding quarter, the biggest fall in a year. This will cut 0.03
percentage points from GDP growth.
The retail sales deflator that adjusts for inflation in retail
price development, rose only 1.9 percent annually in March, the
weakest since January 2017.
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