Partner Article

Retail sales fall in February

The volume of UK retail sales fell by more than expected in February, dropping by 0.8% on the previous month.

The Office for National Statistics said the drop in sales had been broad-based, with only car fuel and non-store retailers seeing sales grow.

And it revised downwards the figure for January, with the volume of sales increasing by 1.5% rather than 1.9%.

On an annual basis, the volume of sales was up 1.3% across the year.

Analysts had expected a drop of 0.6% on the month and an annual rise of 2.3%.

Stephen Patterson, commercial manager at Newcastle city centre organisation NE1 Ltd, said: “It is disappointing that nationally retail figures are showing a greater than expected downturn.”

The news came just 24 hours after Chancellor George Osborne said the 2011 forecast for UK gross domestic product growth would be 1.7%, down from a previous estimate of 2.1%.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .