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Finance

Retail figures "steady" in January thanks to new year sales

21/02/2008

A slight increase in retail sales was experienced during January, official figures released today showed.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), retail sales were up 0.8 per cent between December and January, a rise dubbed "steady".

The largest contributing factor to the monthly increase was the volume of household good store sales, which increased at its fastest rate for 18 months.

January's figures have seen the three-monthly sales volume rise by 0.1 points to 0.6 per cent compared to December, the ONS said, while the weekly value of sales in the first month of 2008 was revealed to be £4.6 billion – 4.8 per cent highest than January 2007.

Analysts say the positive sales will come as welcome relief to the Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC), which voted earlier this month to cut interest rates to 5.25 per cent.

"These figures will clearly reassure the MPC that the economy is not slowing too sharply," said Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics, which hailed the "sharp rebound" in retail sales.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at Global Insight, added: "We strongly suspect that retail sales were lifted in January by increasingly pressurised and price conscious shoppers being particularly keen to take advantage of genuine bargains in the sales."