If you look at the graph, it would appear a retail recovery is under way. And indeed that’s how many interpreted the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics.
Retail sales jumped 0.7% between July and August, twice the level expected, and in the ‘topsy turvy’ world of economics, analysts greeted the good news with dismay. The Independent, for example, said: “Prospects of rate cut dashed after strong recovery in High Street sales.”
But actually, our official compiler of the data was less sanguine. It pointed out that the annual growth is the lowest since the beginning of 1996, while the three-monthly growth in retail sales volumes in September was the lowest since May this year.
And much of the increase was due to food sales- these were up 1.5%. Remove this from the equation, and all of a sudden our famished shoppers upped the spending by just 0.4%.
Also, remember, that figures from both the British Retail Consortium and the CBI indicate a High Street still in crisis.
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