PARIS (Reuters) – Retail sales in the United Kingdom rebounded from one month to the next in January, more strongly than expected, show official data published on Friday, signs of a certain strength in consumption.
These sales increased by 3.4% last month, the largest increase since April 2021, after a contraction of 3.3% in December (compared to an initial estimate of a drop of 3.2%), announced the National Statistics Office (ONS).
Economists polled by Reuters forecast a rebound limited to 1.5%.
Over one year, retail sales showed an increase of 0.7% against an expected drop of 1.4% and a contraction of 2.4% the previous month.
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“Overall, this Friday’s release was better than expected and suggests that the effect of rising interest rates on consumer spending is fading quickly and suggests that the economy will soon emerge from the crisis. recession,” said Joe Maher, chief economist at Capital Economics.
Preliminary ONS gross domestic product (GDP) data, released on Thursday, showed the UK economy shrank 0.3% in the fourth quarter sequentially, a steeper decline than the consensus of surveyed economists by Reuters.
Commenting on retail sales, the ONS said food store sales increased by 3.4% in January following a decline of 3.1% in December, while clothing sales fell by 1. 4% over the month, the only subcategory to show a contraction in January.
Excluding gasoline, overall sales volumes increased by 3.2% in January compared to December.
“After a very weak December, retail sales rebounded in January with the largest monthly increase since April 2021,” said Heather Bovill, deputy director of surveys and economic indicators at the ONS.
“This means that overall sales have now returned to pre-December levels, but looking at the bigger picture, they are still lower than before the (COVID-19) pandemic.” she added.
On the foreign exchange market, the pound sterling posted a slight increase against the dollar and the euro after the publication of this indicator before falling by 0.07% to 1.25925 dollars around 07:50 GMT.
(Writing by Claude Chendjou, with contributions from Suban Abdulla, editing by Zhifan Liu)
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