Government urged to salvage retail sector

Pressure is mounting on the Government to help breathe life into the ailing retail sector with figures showing that consumer spending activity deteriorated further last month.

The latest CSO figures, published yesterday, show retail sales fell by 0.7% on a month-by-month basis in June, but by 5.5% on a year- on-year basis. This followed a 0.1% monthly decline in May and a 2.1% annualised fall for that month.

In value terms, sales fell by 1.3% in June, when compared to May, and fell by 4.9% when measured against June of last year. A rise in bar and electrical goods sales — boosted in part, by Euro 2012 — was offset by falls in other areas such as food and beverages, hardware products and fuel.