Shock Rise in UK Retail Sales for February
by Liam Bailey
2008-03-20 22:28:00 **news**
UK Economic analysts have been shocked by an upturn in retail sales for the Month of February, fuelled mostly by increases in food purchases from Supermarkets. Retail sales figures for February climbed 0.5% from figures taken in January this year, and 5.5% from the figure of February last year. The upturn is in stark contrast to what analysts expected, having predicted a 0.2% fall in retail sales for February.
It is likely that the rise will cause the Bank of England to withhold the planned interest rates cuts, possibly as far back as May, because the rise in sales shows consumer spending hasn't yet started to fall because of fears over the credit crunch, and turbulence in the global economy.
The Bank recently reiterated its continued commitment to reduce economic pressure by keeping close control over inflation, which according to, even the government friendly Consumer Prices Index is currently running above the 2% target at 2.5%.
