Hopes for rapid recovery in Irish shops bolstered by evidence from Britain

British Retail Consortium said total sales among its members were 10% higher last month than in May two years ago

Up-to-date Irish exchequer figures published last week showed the exchequer collected €7.5bn in tax revenues in May — up by €1.3bn from a year earlier — which lifted expectations for a rapid economic recovery in Ireland.  Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Hopes for a rapid recovery from the Covid crisis in Irish shops have been bolstered by evidence from Britain where stores fully reopened a few weeks ago.

The British Retail Consortium said total sales among its members, which include supermarkets and high-street chains, were 10% higher last month than in May two years ago. 

This was the biggest increase in sales compared with 2019 for any month since the start of the pandemic.

"The rain in May failed to dampen consumer demand and shoppers continued to return to the high street," Paul Martin, head of retail at survey sponsor KPMG, said. 

Compared with May 2020, when most non-food retailers were shut due to lockdown restrictions, total sales were almost 28.5% higher.

The British figures will boost hopes by physical stores in Ireland that they can win back a large chunk of the trade they lost to online traders when they were forced to close their doors during the pandemic.

Clothes, shoes, and furniture saw especially strong gains in sales, the British survey showed, benefiting from shoppers being able to view goods in person since non-essential retailers were allowed to reopen in April after months of closure — weeks earlier than in the Republic.

Relaxed restrictions on socialising also encouraged British shoppers to buy new summer clothes.

In Ireland, the latest figures on the numbers on the pandemic unemployment payments will be eagerly awaited for signs about the the health of the Irish retail trade.

Last week's figures showed that retail and wholesale workers, at 46,435, were still one of the largest groups requiring the pandemic payments in the early days of the reopening of physical stores here. 

In Britain, pubs and restaurants were able to serve customers indoors from May 17, though only at reduced capacity, according to Barclaycard figures. 

And British spending with airlines was 74% lower than in May 2019, little better than April, as restrictions continued.  

Up-to-date Irish exchequer figures published last week showed the exchequer collected €7.5bn in tax revenues in May — up by €1.3bn from a year earlier — which lifted expectations for a rapid economic recovery in Ireland. 

The figures also boosted hopes the Government will easily finance its Covid-spending bills and its estimated budget deficit of €18bn this year.

The National Treasury Management Agency said it expects to issue up to €1.2bn in debt in its latest auction of three bonds on Thursday. 

The debt office in recent months sold bonds at either negative or close-to-zero interest rates. 

Today, debt-laden Italy attracted huge orders worth €65bn for €10bn of debt paper it put up for sale.

That showed that eurozone countries are easily financing their enormous spending bills during the health  pandemic, given the weight of bond-buying by the ECB.