Retail sales suffer biggest drop for 26 years

The volume of goods sold in the country has seen its largest drop in 26 years.

New figures from the CSO show retail sales volumes fell by more than 8% in the final month of last year, compared to December 2007.

Factors such as the economic downturn and the favourable exchange rate with sterling convincing shoppers to travel to the North are being blamed for the decline.

Overall sales in 2008 are down 4.5% compared to 2007 figures.