London, May 21, (dpa-AFX/GNA) – UK retail sales growth accelerated more than expected in April driven by the easing of coronavirus restrictions, data published by the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday.
Retail sales expanded 9.2 per cent month-on-month, faster than the 5.1-per-cent increase in March and the economists’ forecast of +4.5 per cent. Moreover, this was the biggest increase since June 2020, when sales were up 13.9 per cent.
Sales volume, excluding auto fuel, advanced 9 per cent after March’s 4.6 per cent. This was also bigger than the expected growth of 4.2 per cent.
Non-food stores provided the largest contribution to the monthly growth, aided by strong increases of 69.4 per cent and 25.3 per cent in clothing stores and other non-food stores respectively. Meanwhile, food stores sales dropped 0.9 per cent in April. On a yearly basis, retail sales volume grew sharply by 42.4 per cent, after rising 7.2 per cent in March.
Economists had forecast an annual increase of 36.8 per cent.
Excluding auto fuel, retail sales growth accelerated to 37.7 per cent in April from 7.9 per cent in the previous month. Sales were forecast to climb 31.7 per cent.
All retail sectors reported a fall in their proportions of online sales as physical stores re-opened during the month. Online spending decreased 5.6 per cent month-on-month in April, with a large decline in food stores of 11.4 per cent.
In the three months to April, the volume of sales increased by 2.6 per cent compared with the previous three months. Excluding auto fuel, sales gained 2 per cent.
Earlier in the day, survey results from the market research group GfK showed that confidence among consumers bounced back to its pre-lockdown level in May. The consumer sentiment index rose six points to -9 in May.
Growing confidence is fuelling the economy and only a reversal to lockdown can dampen this solid momentum, Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said.
Paul Dales, an economist at Capital Economics, said overall economic recovery will continue in May. Overall, the data supports the view that the recovery will be fast and full.
GNA