Retail sales increase by 1%

Retail sales rose by 1% on a year-on-year basis in September, fuelling hope of an overall modest annual increase for 2013, even though the latest stats were distorted by car purchases.

Latest CSO figures, published yesterday, showed that as well as the annualised increase, consumer spending was up by 0.5% in volume terms, on a month-by- month basis in September.

In value terms, there was also a 0.5% monthly rise, but a 0.5% decline was noted when compared to the same month last year.