20th Sep 2024 07:17
(Alliance News) - UK retail sales were higher than expected in August, numbers on Friday showed, while public sector borrowing picked up.
According to the Office for National Statistics, UK retail sales volumes rose 1.0% in August from July, beating the FXStreet cited consensus of 0.4%. They had risen 0.7% in July from June. That reading was upwardly revised from 0.5%.
"Some supermarkets and clothing retailers reported a boost because of warmer weather and end-of-season sales," the ONS said.
"More broadly, sales volumes rose by 1.2% in the three months to August 2024, when compared with the three months to May 2024."
Year-on-year, retail sales climbed 2.5% last month, picking up speed from a 1.5% climb in July and beating consensus of 1.4%.
Separate data, meanwhile, showed public sector borrowing spiked last month. Coming in at GBP13.73 billion, it was the third highest August borrowing since monthly records began in 1993, the ONS said.
Public sector borrowing jumped from the GBP3.10 billion registered in July and the GBP10.47 billion reported in August 2023.
The latest figure was the highest August reading since 2021.
"Borrowing in the financial year to August 2024 was GBP64.1 billion, GBP300 million more than in the same five-month period a year earlier and the third highest year-to-August borrowing since monthly records began in January 1993," the ONS added.
Public sector net debt excluding public sector banks was provisionally estimated at 100% of the UK's gross domestic product as of the end of August, the ONS said. This is up 4.3 percentage points from a year earlier, sitting at "levels last seen in the early 1960s".
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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