Consumer spending falls for 39th consecutive month

OVER the past year people have been spending significantly less at bars, on petrol and clothes.

The volume of retail sales are down by almost a quarter since 2007 and have fallen by 2.1% in the last year. Last month alone they were down 1.3% compared with the previous month.

According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), if the strong sale of cars are excluded, the volume of sales fell by 5.1% last month compared to May last year and by 0.6% compared to the previous month.