IBEC: Statistics show further evidence of slowing economy

IBEC, the group that represents Irish business, has said that two sets of statistics published today by the CSO provide further evidence of a slowing economy in 2008.

First, the January retail sales data recorded a further slowing down of retail spending, which was becoming evident in the last quarter of 2007. The annual growth of retail sales slowed to 3% compared with 4.4% in the last quarter of 2007 and 6.9% in January of last year.