Consumer Spending Stable

UK retail sales increased ahead of expectations in September, as shoppers kept spending despite rising interest rates. Despite forecasts of a downturn in consumer spending, figures from the Office for National Statistics show retail sales up by 1per cent in September, ahead of the 0.7 per cent seen in August. The annual increase in sales is now running at 6.9 per cent, compared to 6.7 per cent the month before.

The ONS pointed out that underlying growth rate of retail sales has continued to decline, down to 1.1 per cent for the three months from July to September, from 1.5 per cent.