25th Mar 2022 07:11
(Alliance News) - UK retail sales fell on a monthly basis in February, figures on Friday showed, undershooting expectations for an increase.
According to the Office for National Statistics, retail sales declined 0.3% month-on-month in February, following a 1.9% hike in January from December. The figure for February was below FXStreet cited consensus of a 0.6% rise.
Annually, retail sales rose 7.0% in February, slowing from growth of 9.4% in January. FXStreet-cited consensus had forecast a 7.8% yearly rise for February.
February's retail sales volumes are 3.7% above the level of two years earlier, so just before the onset of the pandemic.
"Non-store retailing sales volumes fell by 4.8% over the month following strong growth in December (2.7%) and January (4.0%)," the ONS said.
The figures from the ONS on Friday come after a long-running tracker showed UK consumer confidence has fallen in March.
GfK's consumer confidence index fell by 5 points to minus 31 in March as consumers confront a "wall of worry" amid 30-year-high levels of inflation.
It is the fourth month in a row that the survey's headline figure has dropped, to a level last seen in October and November 2020 when Covid numbers were rising.
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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