UK retail sales growth comfortably topped forecasts in January, numbers on Friday showed, in an encouraging reading of an economy which fell into recession at the end of last year.
According to the Office for National Statistics, UK retail sales grew 3.4% on-month in January, a stark reversal in fortunes from the record 3.3% slide registered in December from November. December’s number was downwardly revised from a 3.2% fall.
January’s retail sales figure was predicted to show growth of 1.5%, according to FXStreet, so the actual figure markedly beat market consensus.
The latest figure showed the largest monthly rise since April 2021, taking retail sales volume back to the level of this past November.
‘Sales volumes in all subsectors except clothing stores increased over the month, with food stores such as supermarkets contributing most to the increase,’ the ONS said.
Year-on-year, UK retail sales rose 0.7% in January, following a 2.4% fall in December. Annual growth defied expectations of a 1.4% decline, according to FXStreet.
The data follows numbers on Thursday showing the UK slipped into recession in the fourth-quarter.
UK gross domestic product slumped 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023 from the third quarter, according to figures from the ONS. This was worse than the expected 0.1% fall, according to FXStreet-cited consensus.
The UK economy already had declined 0.1% in the third quarter from the second.
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